Fixing What’s Not Broken: TikTok’s New Font is Making People Angry
TikTok, it’s time we had a chat: stop fixing what’s not broken. The ByteDance social media platform recently introduced an
Ivy Griffith
TikTok, it’s time we had a chat: stop fixing what’s not broken.
The ByteDance social media platform recently introduced an update that has users furious – and it’s all about the font.
TikTok introduced its own custom font, wittily called TikTok Sans, and a company blog post claims that it was designed with “legibility and reading retention” in mind.
Prior to implementing TikTok Sans, the company used Proxima Nova.
According to the apparently-dubious powers that be at TikTok, TikTok Sans has letters that include “bigger openings and clearer strokes, making them much easier to distinguish from one another.”
The new font is in fact a bit bigger “and overall line height has been increased to improve readability.”
Users tuning into the app will see the new font first in languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Indonesian, Turkish, and Vietnamese, with “plans to add more in the future.”
TikTok said in the blog post that the new font is “Designed to reflect our diverse community of creators, visionaries, and storytellers, TikTok Sans complements the personality of our platform – from our roots in entertainment to inclusivity and self-expression.”
TikTok promises that the font will provide:
- “Simplified and distinguished fonts: TikTok Sans letters have bigger openings and clearer strokes, making them much easier to distinguish from one another. Designed with improving the user interface in mind, the new fonts also have slicker and simpler shapes, enabling better recognizability and reliability across languages.
- Improved readability: Compared to the previous Proxima Nova typeface, TikTok Sans is visually larger and overall line height has been increased to improve readability. A special formula has been introduced to improve letter spacing. These subtle changes significantly improve readability for users and bring more rhythm to the platform experience.”
The blog post concludes, “At TikTok, we are committed to innovating responsibly to improve the experience of over 1 billion people around the world, who come together on our platform to unleash their creativity, delight in new discoveries, engage in cultural conversation and feel a sense of belonging. The introduction of TikTok Sans is yet another milestone in our journey, as we continue building a special place that continues to evolve along with our global community.”
They are rolling the font out globally, so most users will already have it installed – whether they like it or not.
And it’s clear after spending just a few minutes on TikTok, most people do not in fact like it.
@extremelyloudsongsforyou Replying to @maybeitsmaliska The audacity of TikTok to pull this mess. New font is straight dookie cheese water. I tend to flinch with the look of disgust on my face every single time I look at it. Like at least give us an option to change it back. #tiktoknewfont #fyp ♬ use this if youre gay – ☆
One video with nearly 6 million views shows a side-by-side of the old font and new, with a shocked cat captioned, “WHY?!” The user (@i_blowyoureardrums) writes, “The audacity of TikTok to pull this mess. New font is straight dookie cheese water. I tend to flinch with the look of disgust on my face every single time I look at it. Like at least give us an option to change it back.”
@yummyyz genuinely my last straw THE SILLY IS SO UGLT :3 :3 :3 :3 #fyp #fontchange ♬ original sound – Mitch
And another video with 524k views from @yummyyz reads, “genuinely my last straw THE SILLY IS SO UGLT :3 :3 :3 :3 #fyp #fontchange.” In the video, @yummyyz writes, “WHY DID I WAKE UP TO THID UGLY A– FONT CHNAGE I CANT RVRN TUYPE :3 WITHOUTH IT BEIJG UNSILLY” and adds, “ITS SO WEIRDDD.”
The videos and comments march on, with unsatisfied TikTok users demanding that they change the font back.
So far, TikTok remains resolute in infuriating users – and keeping the new font around.