For many gamers, Discord has become the default app for voice and video chat. It’s even going to be integrated into PlayStation consoles in the future. It’s super popular, which is why its latest update is so baffling. A font change is causing a lot of stress for certain groups of users.
Reddit user ThatSirWaffles uploaded a good comparison shot for anyone who wants to analyze the changes. The new font is called GG Sans, and it’s a much curvier typeset than its predecessor Whitney. Most folks will notice a difference upon booting up Discord, but for those who have astigmatism or dyslexia (this writer has the former), the difference makes everything a lot harder to read. Such letter shapes make them more prone to run together for readers with those conditions. This can easily cause headaches for them too.
Fellow Redditor Inguz666 shared their experience with GG Sans. “The skinnier and more detailed font really makes the letters bleed into each other,” they said. It’s a common issue. LeahIsUltraGay, a Reddit user with dyslexia, echoed the same feelings, saying “the new font is hard to read.” The font change has proven to be a roadblock beyond users with astigmatism and dyslexia too. User brawaru pointed out that the new font doesn’t support Cyrillic characters, so their messages display in a jumbled mess of font shapes and sizes.
So, what can be done about this issue? On Discord’s side, a new font choice or a rollback to Whitney could fix the problem. Reddit user DjuncleMC made the suggestion that Discord could let users choose their own font. That’s easier said than done of course, but it would also be a solution. For the time being, anyone having issues with the new GG Sans font can let the Discord team know through the A11Y feedback form.
While Discord is most widely used on PCs, it is also available on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles. If you’re interested in using the app yourself, we can show you how to invite friends to your server.
