KIkiwibyproxy·Aug 13, 2026
they actually did create their own font for public state affairs, and ist open on GitHub: https://github.com/uswds/public-sans
In Antiqua–Fraktur disputeuswds
public-sans
Shell2019–2026
uswds / public-sans
public-sans
A strong, neutral, principles-driven, open source typeface for text or display
10Distinct people
11Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
4.8KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
A strong, neutral, principles-driven, open source typeface for text or display
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use has been verified yet.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year11 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2019-04-08 17:59:43 UTC to 2026-08-13 11:22:21 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
11 sourcesIt’s also on GitHub: https://github.com/uswds/public-sans
The glyph repertoire is a bit limited, though.
In Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts CalibriThe OFL-1.1 license violates 17 USC § 105 (2019)
1 points · Open discussionI’ve always found government codebases fascinating, since you can directly witness the intersection of code and law!
Also see this issue raised on the Public Sans repo, which claims the typeface (created by the American government) is unconstitutional:
https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/31
In Gov.UK: Prevent ministers and officials from hiding policy changes as minorUS Gov't typeface violates Constitution
4 points · Open discussionHis position is not common and there's a long history of U.S. government lawyers approving participation in open-source projects under licenses which are not the public domain — e.g. SELinux is under the GPL because the original Linux kernel was and the NSA's lawyers approved that contribution.
Here's the upstream issue:
https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/30
He also opened a separate issue claiming an Establishment clause violation because the OFL was created by https://www.sil.org/about:
https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/31
In U.S. Web Design System 2.0The OFL-1.1 license on Public Sans violates 17 USC § 105
3 points · Open discussionSomeone (you?) opened an issue: https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/33
In Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or displayIf a license is granted to a work and the US government accepts that license and then publishes derivatives of that work, the US government releases its derivatives into the public domain without regard for the original licensing, as they have complied with the terms of the license to them and have no legal right to encumber their fork with any restrictions. Licenses depend on copyright, without which they are unenforceable, and the government is prohibited from copyrighting any work. The license clause should, therefore, be invalid and unenforceable upon any derivatives of this work, regardless of the accidental inclusion of it.
My idea is being hashed out on their GitHub, though sadly I suspect they’ll need lawyers to advise them rather than HN commenters such as I: https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/30
In Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or displayInteresting take: Does Public Sans' OFL-1.1 license violate the Establishment Clause?
https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/31
In Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or displayThe github page has more info https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/blob/master/README.md#d...
In Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display