This is a synopsis of the brief that Microsoft set when they commissioned the Vista fonts. Calibri, one of the selected designs which fulfilled the brief, is described as having a rich soft character that makes the font suitable for documents, email, and Web design. It was designed by Dutch typographer and type designer Lucas de Groot.

The Design Brief
Each designer was given the following brief for how their typefaces should function:

• Used mainly for immersive, on-screen reading
• Utilizes ClearType technology to look good on-screen
• Useful in print

There were several factors that made the ClearType font project different than most previous work for the type designers:

• The font’s appearance on screen would be the most important factor over their appearance in print.
• The fonts were to be entirely new designs, and not ‘do-overs’ of existing font faces.
• The schedule of design and delivery from sketches to a workable font was aggressive, and they had to present the fonts together as a single, discrete collection for Microsoft users.