When Fonts Go Bad

In the modern world anyone who uses a computer, even children, have to face the question of which typeface to use for any particular project, whether it's a powerpoint for school, a poster for the PTA, an art graphic for Pinterest, or even a published work. Most computers are loaded with fonts, and you can download hundreds more for free on DaFont, 1001FreeFonts or FontSquirrel. As you can see from those collections, there is a world of typography beyond the usual (and rather boring) Times New Roman.

This blog, for instance is written in Georgia font, an easy-to-read font that has a roundness to it that I find pleasing. And it's a "serif font" that has little "tails" on the letters that lead your eye from one letter to the next. The post title is Trebuchet, which is a "sans" font, without the little strokes on the letters, and that makes it look clean and neat as a heading. I could have picked others, but those are just two I personally like.

And then there's Comic Sans, based on comic-book lettering, which was overused on early Microsoft computers and in hundreds of Ad campaigns to the point that people grew sick of it.


Some people have been downright infuriated that people still use it when there are so many other choices, and they want Microsoft to ban it from the type library. Why? Maybe because it looks too simple. I tend to think of it as a "clown" font, for some reason, but I don't actually hate it. Others do apparently, like the folks at "Comic Sans Must Die" . . .

From the website "Ban Comic Sans"

Love it or hate it, Comic Sans is one of the most popular fonts in the world.
Vincent Connare designed the font for Microsoft in 1995. He described it is best being used for “new computer users and families with children”. Despite this it has constantly been misused and can be seen everywhere from school letters, e-mails from government officials and even in documents about the discovery of the Higgs Boson.
Since it was unleashed on the world there have been multiple calls by designers for the font to be abolished completely.
Comic Sans Must Die is a project that satisfies every designer’s dream: to see Comic Sans die a slow and painful death. Every day the individual glyphs of Comic Sans will have their demise displayed for all to see.

However, in defense of the much-maligned font is the Comic Sans Project Tumblr with examples from well-known and beloved products such as Nintendo, Kodak, and Levi Jeans (not to mention the "S" in Superman). In fact, if you look around in any store you will probably see this font because it has something going for it - it is simple and easy-to-read.

Here's a short video history of Comic Sans. The consensus of the people questioned in the video find Comic Sans to be "silly" at best and "creepy" at worst. It reminds many of their first typed paper in junior high school. However, clearly the font works well for sign-making and branding ordinary products. For fancy imported products or professional printing jobs, not so much.



And now Vsauce has posted a video "Defense of Comic Sans" that takes a scholarly approach to put Comic Sans in the context of printing and typographical history. When you're done with this video and this post, you'll know more than you EVER wanted to know about Comic Sans. Still, good times.