Aptos (typeface)
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 | |
| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Neo-grotesque[1] |
| Designer(s) | Steve Matteson |
| Commissioned by | Microsoft |
| Foundry | Microsoft Corporation |
| Date created | 2019[2] |
| Date released | 2023 |
| License | Proprietary |
| Design based on | Helvetica Arial |
| Also known as | Bierstadt |
Aptos, originally named Bierstadt, is a sans-serif typeface in the neo-grotesque style developed by Steve Matteson.[3] It was released in 2023 as the new default font for the Microsoft Office suite, replacing the previously used Calibri font.[4]
The bundled Aptos fonts included in Microsoft 365 are Aptos Light, Light Italic, Regular, Italic, Semibold, Semibold Italic, Bold, Bold Italic, Extrabold, Extrabold Italic, Black, and Black Italic; the same styles of Aptos Display; and Aptos Narrow. It also bundled with a monospaced font, Aptos Mono, and a modern style serif font, Aptos Serif.[5]
Characteristics[edit]
Aptos has distinct characteristics which make the typeface easily readable.[6][7]
- It has horizontal and vertical stroke endings based on Helvetica as opposed to the slanted stroke ending of Arial.
- It removed the distinctive tail of the lowercase letter "a" and added it to the lowercase letter "l" (L), as in the lowercase letter "t", which prevents confusion with the uppercase letter "I" (i).
- The shapes of the uppercase letters in "O" and "R" and the lowercase letter "a" are slightly irregular.
- It has a double-story lowercase letter "g" with an angled stem instead of the single-story letter, as in Helvetica, and the uppercase letter "G" is rounded and has no spur.
- Little swing tail of uppercase letter "R".
- Lowercase letters "b", "c", and "p" and the uppercase letter "C" have wide contours.
- It has circular dots in punctuation marks, diacritics, and lowercase letters "i" and "j" as opposed to the square dots in Arial and Helvetica.
- The curved top flag of the numeral "1" is based on Arial as is the slanted stem of the numeral "7".
- The curved tail of the uppercase letter "Q" meets its bowl.
Aptos includes characters from Latin, Latin Extended, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts. The italics of Aptos have been individually redrawn, rather than mechanically slanted. The italic does not have cursive forms except Cyrillic scripts, where the letter shapes are oblique forms of the upright letters, as opposed to the true italic form of Calibri.[8]
History[edit]
Bierstadt was named after the painter Albert Bierstadt, after whom Mount Bierstadt of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado was named.[9][2] It is based on typical Swiss fonts from the middle of the 20th century. The font was intended to evoke the Helvetica and Arial fonts.[6] It was introduced in 2021 alongside four other fonts (Grandview, Seaford, Skeena and Tenorite) for the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 applications. As a result, Bierstadt was considered a potential successor to the Microsoft Office standard font Calibri, which had been introduced in 2007.[10]
In July 2023, Microsoft announced that Bierstadt would succeed Calibri, although it would be renamed after Aptos, California.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ Mather, Victor. "Microsoft Word's Subtle Typeface Change Affected Millions. Did You Notice?". New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ a b Baine, Wallace (16 July 2023). "From topography to typography: How a graphic designer's love of Aptos inspired the next ubiquitous commercial typeface". Lookout Santa Cruz. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ Warren, Tom (13 July 2023). "Meet Microsoft Office's new default font: Aptos". The Verge. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
- ^ a b Daniels, Si (13 July 2023). "A change of typeface: Microsoft's new default font has arrived". Medium. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ "Cloud fonts in Office". Microsoft. 6 November 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ a b Matteson, Steve (13 May 2021). "A Closer Look at Bierstadt (the new font design – not 'Beer-Town'". Matteson Typographics. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ Daniels, Si (28 February 2024). "Behind the design: A deep dive into Aptos". Medium. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ Microsoft Learn (20 January 2024). "Aptos Font Family". Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ "Meet the Bierstadt, Grandview, Seaford, Skeena and Tenorite". PresentationPoint. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ The Microsoft 365 Marketing Team (28 April 2021). "Beyond Calibri: Finding Microsoft's next default font". Microsoft. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
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