Twitter's controversial Chirp font rolling out to Windows 10

What you need to know

• Twitter is rolling out a visual refresh to its apps across all major platforms.
• The biggest change is the switch to Twitter's own Chirp font.
• Chirp has drawn criticism for being "basically illegible" and having poor spacing.

Twitter started rolling out a visual refresh this week. Those changes are making their way to the official Twitter app on Windows 10. The most notable change is the controversial new font known as "Chirp." Twitter designed its first proprietary typeface to be sharp and legible, but it's drawn criticism from many.

Twitter's Derrit DeRouen says that when designing Chirp, Twitter needed to ensure that it is good for everyday use, is legible, and has good density. Critics claim that Chirp fails on multiple measures. One Twitter user, "Soilleir," calls it "basically illegible," noting that characters look like "blobs."

Others claim that reading the font gives them a headache. If that's the case for a large portion of Twitter's userbase, it could require action from the company.

Twitter's new design also changes the spacing between a few different parts of the app with an aim to making the app feel less crowded. The app also has less blue than before.

Chirp and the other visual changes appear to be rolling out gradually. OnMSFT reports that the new design is live on the Twitter app on Windows 10, but it hasn't appeared on my PC at this time. If you haven't seen Chirp or other design changes at this time, you'll likely see them in the near future.

If you don't like the look of Twitter, you can try out Twitter client Fenice, which is one of the best Windows apps.