Twitter Totally Changed Its Font, And It’ll Make You Do A Double-Take

Twitter recently got a makeover, and you might have noticed something looks pretty different as you scroll. As you look closer at the tweets, you’ll probably notice a change in the font — and you are correct. If you’re wondering what font Twitter uses, here’s what you need to know about the change. On Wednesday, Aug. 11, Twitter introduced a new font called “Chirp” — its first-ever proprietary typeface — along with other updates to its design, and it’s taking people some time to get used to it.

The announcement came in an Aug. 11 tweet from the @TwitterDesign account. “Notice anything different?” the tweet began. Formally confirming the change, the tweet read, “Today, we released a few changes to the way Twitter looks on the web and on your phone. While it might feel weird at first, these updates make us more accessible, unique, and focused on you and what you’re talking about.” It’s not out of nowhere, though. The design process behind the “Chirp” font was originally unveiled in January 2021 by Twitter’s Creative Director Derrit DeRouen and the official blog months before the official release.

The new font is the first to be created by the company — save for a four-month experiment in 2014 — and it came about with help from Swiss company Grilli Type Foundry. Chirp is a blend of American Gothic and European Grotesque styles. It features a clean look, but there are also some slightly jagged edges to specific letters.

Although the company cited the refresh feature, among other tweaks to its visual appeal, as something that “might feel weird at first” but ultimately make your scroll more engaging, you might be wondering if you’ll be able to switch it back to the old font. There’s no way to revert to the font you were used to, but according to a Twitter spokesperson, the company is “listening to feedback about the font and will continue to improve it.” The spokesperson added, “We tested the font and found that while it does take people a little time to get used to it, overall they like the change.”

Prior to the change, Twitter used fonts that were determined by the device you used. iOS users saw tweets in San Francisco font, while Android and Windows users were seeing Roboto and Segoe, respectively. DeRouen’s January 2021 tweet stated Twitter’s “key objective” was to “improve how [people] convey emotion and imperfection” and said the current fonts weren’t up to the task.

In addition to the font update, the rest of Twitter got some other design tweaks. The app and website have updated, high-contrast colors and buttons, less vibrant blue shades, and a new color palette that will release to the platform sometime in the future. There’s also less “visual clutter,” which means fewer gray backgrounds and divider lines, as well as an increase in space. The alignment for tweets in Western languages is also now left-aligned for easier reading, according to the announcement.

It’s unclear whether the new “Chirp” font is a permanent addition to Twitter, but the announcement signaled it’s only “the start” of visual updates depending on feedback.

You may need time to get used to Twitter’s new “Chirp” font but it’ll be sticking around for a while — so the best thing to do is get used to your new scroll.