{"id":2519942,"date":"2025-12-11T07:37:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-cracker-barrel-case-for-rubios-times-new-roman-supremacy\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T07:38:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:38:54","slug":"the-cracker-barrel-case-for-rubios-times-new-roman-supremacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-cracker-barrel-case-for-rubios-times-new-roman-supremacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cracker Barrel Case For Rubio&#8217;s &#8216;Times New Roman&#8217; Supremacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-cracker-barrel-case-for-rubios-times-new-roman-supremacy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2519942&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the State Department&#8217;s decision under Secretary Marco Rubio to revert from the Biden-era Calibri font back to Times New Roman for official correspondence, aiming to restore a sense of tradition, formality, and professionalism. This shift symbolizes a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/only-the-beginning-wokesters-scream-nazi-after-sydney-sweeney-jeans-ad-showcases-traditional-female-attractiveness\/\" title=\"Only the Beginning: Wokesters Scream &#039;Nazi&#039; After Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ad Showcases Traditional Female Attractiveness\">broader cultural pushback<\/a> against modern minimalist aesthetics, often seen as bland and soulless, exemplified by trends like simplified corporate logos, the &#8220;Corporate Memphis&#8221; art style, and the decline of artistic realism in children&#8217;s media. The article highlights how such visual simplifications, including the move away from cursive writing in education, reflect a digital age preference for utilitarian and easily readable designs but at the cost of character and depth. It draws parallels to architectural preferences, noting the Trump governance&#8217;s rejection of brutalist federal buildings in favor of classical designs to inspire and uplift the public. Ultimately, the piece argues that aesthetics in fonts, logos, art, and architecture influence perception and professionalism, encouraging a return to more traditional, meaningful visual forms in government and public institutions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The State Department&rsquo;s rejection of the Biden-era Calibri font for Times New Roman might not be the Trump administration&rsquo;s most consequential decision, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean it doesn&rsquo;t matter.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/09\/us\/politics\/rubio-state-department-font.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">circulated<\/a> a memo declaring the serif font would again be the standard typeface for official State correspondence, as part of an effort to &ldquo;restore decorum and professionalism to the department&rsquo;s written work.&rdquo; It evokes &ldquo;tradition, formality and ceremony&rdquo; better than the plain style his predecessor had implemented on the recommendation of the department&rsquo;s DEI office, Rubio said.<\/p>\n<p>The move prompted some predictable grumbling from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-shows-media-narrative-of-trump-voter-regret-is-total-bunk\/\" title=\"Poll Shows Media Narrative Of Trump Voter Regret Is Total Bunk\">usual suspects &#038;mdash<\/a>; New York Magazine <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/HOkvY#selection-1387.29-1387.54\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fretted<\/a> that Trump &ldquo;Is Coming After Our Fonts&rdquo; and mocked the administration for &ldquo;fetishizing trad aesthetics.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But those &ldquo;trad aesthetics&rdquo; do matter, and as exhibit No. 1, I humbly submit Cracker Barrel&rsquo;s ill-fated <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/21\/cracker-barrel-settles-on-the-ugliest-most-soulless-logo-you-can-imagine-to-destroy-its-brand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attempt<\/a> to turn itself into the Calibri of Old Country Stores. In August, the company announced it would retire its nearly 50-year-old logo for a stripped-down version that removed the &ldquo;Old-Timer&rdquo; and anything else that could differentiate the brand from an urban slop bowl chain. At the same time, the company initiated a redesign of its iconic restaurants, replacing antiques that hung from the walls with <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Brick_Suit\/status\/1958294258399772946?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">whitewashed shiplap and abstract flour sifter art<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cracker Barrel made the failed switch purportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/2025\/10\/23\/cracker-barrel-logo-ceo-julie-felss-massino\/86849792007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">because<\/a> the new logo would be &ldquo;easier to read,&rdquo; the same reasoning given by the Biden State Department for adopting Calibri. People hated it, a lesson that cost Cracker Barrel hundreds of millions of dollars to learn.<\/p>\n<p>Like many things, the doomed Cracker Barrel rebrand &mdash; and the popularity of the sans serif font &mdash; can both be blamed in part on the internet. Across industries, brands have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/starting-a-business\/why-companies-are-simplifying-their-logos\/450794\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">simplified<\/a> their logos to be instantly recognizable on small phone screens and tiny thumbnails. Calibri&rsquo;s defenders insist it&rsquo;s easier to read on a screen, where most <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >white collar work takes place<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>In 2010, education bureaucrats <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/12\/03\/1140610714\/what-students-lost-since-cursive-writing-was-cut-from-the-common-core-standards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">removed<\/a> cursive &mdash; cursive being to Times New Roman what Times New Roman is to Calibri &mdash; from Common Core educational standards. It was obsolete, they reasoned, in a digital age where typing and computer classes were more important.<\/p>\n<p>Concurrently with the rise of bland logos, companies adopted bland art. The advertising world exploded with the blob-shaped, squiggly-armed, grotesquely-proportioned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?client=safari&amp;sca_esv=c10fa1f35bad6765&amp;hl=en-us&amp;sxsrf=AE3TifPYniwloc5x3txaeUv1lnlDsjtsAA:1765399803319&amp;udm=2&amp;fbs=AIIjpHyTFN8BbSyNXQ3oA-fn7H5NUrrIpQXg7ywPuzBdcoqHY9koTyP2YoWqyTioW_DKM8e54DLdKSQPtLDwZZYXwxfZ9LjVZnXHR7TeM8YBvb0__9R-SA8BmUsC9hbRkm8b36ifmshF7WDG8NsHK-1Mpm8WnYbOzACV3U_H68_DRoq6SVQpED9mL0vRoJOI6HoO6i4Y2B3HHQ1kSIE8uCouaEws86Bb2-MfGS-ebIYMaej3KQPPKVo&amp;q=corporate+memphis&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjK-qbh8rORAxWkFlkFHSlqKJYQtKgLegQIExAB&amp;biw=390&amp;bih=699&amp;dpr=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">characters<\/a> popularized by Facebook. The art style, dubbed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/corporate-memphis-design-tech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Corporate Memphis<\/a>, is &mdash; like Calibri &mdash; dimensionless and soulless. It&rsquo;s the PowerPoint slide deck of graphics, color-coded and corporatized to the point of removing any visual interest. <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thrilled to announce my new series where I&#8217;m using AI to make art more accessible by transforming existing pieces into the popular Corporate Memphis style! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mHlf7Rpzqi\">pic.twitter.com\/mHlf7Rpzqi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; xlr8harder (@xlr8harder) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/xlr8harder\/status\/1906643226544492832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 31, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>From advertising boardrooms, the corporate slop has trickled down into the children&rsquo;s book section. Realistic, visually interesting, and even beautiful illustrations have given way to oversaturated, cartoonish graphics. Faces are simplified and proportions exaggerated to the point that the subject looks less human. Not only is the subject matter <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nonregemesse\/status\/1897363652820525188?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">less aspirational<\/a>, the accompanying art is too. Now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsnationnow.com\/business\/tech\/ai\/chatgpt-writter-childrens-books-side-hustle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI-generated content<\/a> is reportedly being passed off as kids&rsquo; lit, a fact that indicts the current industry at least as much as it does the ChatGPT profiteers.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The rejection of artistic realism in children&#8217;s media is not studied; it&#8217;s difficult enough to acknowledge overstimulation. But as literacy weakens and attention spans collapse, it is worth looking at what children themselves look at: the cartoon and CGI-ification of reality. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wmI4oXFK3b\">https:\/\/t.co\/wmI4oXFK3b<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ueHhNqBTrZ\">pic.twitter.com\/ueHhNqBTrZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tara Ann Thieke (@TaraAnnThieke) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TaraAnnThieke\/status\/1887872570541617658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The dumbing-down of visual aesthetics &mdash; from font to logos to illustrations &mdash; is not without consequence. It would be foolish to assume the aesthetics we surround ourselves with have no effect on how we perceive the world. Official correspondence should be professional, not infantilizing. Sans serif is the medium of corporate jargon and DEI trainings. Fonts like Calibri are literally stripped of their character, reduced to their simplest and most utilitarian form. So are graphics and illustrations that erase shading, detail, and even faces in favor of blob art. <\/p>\n<p>The same also goes for architecture, where structures that were once considered a prime medium for artistic beauty are reduced to artless or even intentionally ugly fa&ccedil;ades. Earlier this year, disgust for such an evolution inspired the Trump administration to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/08\/making-federal-architecture-beautiful-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reject<\/a> the brutalist design of modern federal buildings in favor of classical structures. <\/p>\n<p>Public buildings should &ldquo;uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, and command respect from the general public,&rdquo; Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/08\/making-federal-architecture-beautiful-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> in his executive order on the subject. <\/p>\n<p>We should expect no less from any other visual medium. After architecture and fonts, the administration should tackle <a href=\"https:\/\/news.usps.com\/2025\/11\/24\/ralph-lauren-to-offer-usps-inspired-collection\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">agency uniforms<\/a>. Can we put Ralph Lauren in charge of the Postal Service?<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<hr>\n<p>      Elle Purnell is the assignment editor at The Federalist. She has appeared on Fox Business and Newsmax, and her work has been featured by RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women&#8217;s Forum. She received her B.A. in government with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_ellepurnell.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State Dept. swaps Calibri for Times New Roman font again<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1353,"featured_media":2519943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/brett-jordan-M9NVqELEtHU-unsplash-e1765404548793.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[60803,5438,68624],"class_list":["post-2519942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-cracker-barrel","tag-rubio","tag-times-new-roman"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/brett-jordan-M9NVqELEtHU-unsplash-e1765404548793.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2519942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2519942"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2519942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2519946,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2519942\/revisions\/2519946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2519943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2519942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2519942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2519942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}