No need for ministers to drop our font, says typeface firm

Ministers in Cardiff needlessly abandoned their favourite font for legal documents, when a version fully supporting the Welsh language was ready and waiting, the owner of the typeface has said.

Monotype said newer versions of Helvetica show all the marks above letters to change the Welsh pronunciation and "it would be a shame" if people thought otherwise.

The Welsh government recently decided to drop Helvetica for the Arimo font for printing statutory instruments, a form of sub-legislation, in both Welsh and English.

Ministers told the BBC the version of the Helvetica typeface available to them could not display ŵ, ŷ, ẁ, ỳ, ẃ and ẅ.

The symbols above the letters are known as diacritical marks.

Legal statutory instruments fill in technical details or procedures to implement laws, some of the minutiae of how powers are exercised by governments.

Welsh ministers were not the only ones thinking about fonts in the run-up to last Christmas.

On the other side of the Atlantic, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font instead of Calibri.

Rubio's predecessor Antony Blinken had adopted Calibri in 2023, saying it was more accessible for people with visual disabilities.

But Rubio said this was a "wasteful" diversity, calling Times New Roman "more formal and professional".

Until recently Times New Roman, which first appeared in the Times newspaper in the early 1930s, was used by the Welsh government.

But, in December, ministers said the enactment of the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Act 2025, described as a Welsh law "tidying-up exercise", offered an "opportunity to choose a new format and typeface for Welsh statutory instruments".

"This is also an opportunity to modernise the appearance of this legislation to make it more appropriate for a digital based system of accessing legislation," said the government.

The Welsh government decided that, with effect from 1 January 2026, "the typeface for printed instruments will be Helvetica; a sans serif typeface known for its usage across a range of media (print, displays, film) and neutrality of presentation".

However, before the government's ruling graced any pages "it was discovered that the typeface Helvetica does not fully support all the Welsh diacritics".

"Therefore, the typeface Arimo has now been chosen for use in Welsh statutory instruments."

The government said Arimo "provides full support for the Welsh diacritics".

Essentially, Helvetica was chosen and unchosen before having a chance to adorn the world of Welsh law.

The Welsh language (Cymraeg) makes use of a number of diacritics, such as the circumflex (known in Welsh as "to bach", little roof), mostly used to mark long vowels, and accents for example in words borrowed from another language to mark vowels that are short when a long vowel would normally be expected.

Monotype, which owns Helvetica, told the BBC that "not all early versions of Helvetica fully support Welsh diacritics".

However, "Monotype's latest Helvetica families, including Helvetica Now and Neue Helvetica Paneuropean, do include full Welsh language support".

"As with many typefaces, capabilities vary by version, so it's important to use the most recent version."

The company added: "It would be a shame if people came away thinking Helvetica doesn't support Welsh, as it's something we've continued to work on and invest in over a long period of time."

"Organisations can get the latest versions by licensing it directly from Monotype, which ensures they're using current files with full language support and ongoing updates."

The Welsh government initially told the BBC: "The version of the Helvetica typeface available to us did not correctly reproduce all of the diacritical marks, specifically: ŵ, ŷ, ẁ, ỳ, ẃ and ẅ.

"As a result, those particular letters were usually reproduced in the Arial typeface.

"This typeface looks very similar, but not for every user on every occasion."

Having seen Monotype's response, the Welsh government elaborated: "The decision to change to Arimo was made after discussions with the National Archives who, on behalf of the King's Printer for Wales, organise the publication of Welsh statutory instruments.

"Their advice was that the versions of Helvetica available to them did not support all Welsh diacritical marks.

"It was decided that Arimo, which is visually very similar to Helvetica, was the appropriate choice."

The first Welsh statutory instrument to be made using Arimo was The Non-Domestic Rating (Demand Notices) (Wales)​ (Amendment) Regulations 2026​.

All statutory instruments are listed on the legislation.gov.uk website.