Design | Visual Zen
Comic Sans Sucks. Period.
Comic Sans. We’ve all seen it. It’s been the bain of our existence since personal computers started showing up on every desk and in every family room. In college we were told that anyone who used Comic Sans or Hobo on a project would be issued an instant failing grade and would be mocked daily for all eternity. And yet it is used all over the place. I have a client who showed me a powerpoint presentation recently that he was using to pitch a multi-million dollar proposal to a global company, and he set the entire document in Comic Sans. I had to sit him down and tell him what he didn’t want to hear. Comic Sans sucks. Period.
The designer of this trainwreck, Vincent Connare, defends his poor little font. He developed the font while working on children’s software packages for Microsoft. The font was not supposed to be used for any other feature, only for Childrens programming. So far, so good. But then Connare goes off the reservation with this particular nugget, emphasis mine:
“It took eight years for Apple to copy the concept, but now it’s here! Apple’s latest font to appear on system OS/X. Chalkboard is a TrueType font that seems to have been made only to copy the popularity of Comic Sans. If Comic Sans is Bad, then why make something similar?”
Why? Because there is no accounting for taste, that’s why. The idea here is that lots of people use Comic Sans, and therefore it’s a good thing. Yeah, well, lots of people watch professional wrestling and Emeril Live, so what does that tell you? The public is going to use whatever crappy font you put on their computer – not everyone has the ability to know the difference between good design and bad design.
There is a responsibility of those in a position to shift public perception of design to do it well, and not to make excuses for sub-standard products. Comic Sans is another example of mediocrity forced upon consumers by Microsoft, along with Windows 95, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and from what I’ve seen, Windows Vista as well. Don’t get me started on Powerpoint. Comic Sans is another symptom of how people are willing to accept mediocrity when they are given no other option. When your average consumer wants to use a more casual font and doesn’t know that well-designed display fonts exist, they turn to their system fonts.
The question, therefore, should not be “Why not use Comic Sans because everyone is doing it.” The question should be “Why are the display fonts on computer systems poorly designed?” I’m not a type scholar, but I am a designer. My job is to look at typefaces all day, choosing the right one for the right occasion. It is easy for me to say that there is no occasion where Comic Sans is useful.
I’ll leave you with this: Comic Sans was designed for the use on children’s programming, yes? Children who are just learning to read? Doesn’t it make more sense to have a typeface that is easy for a child to read and recognize letter forms rather than a font that looks like it was written by a child? Yeah, Comic Sans sucks.
velouria
know what else i put on that list of sucky fonts? papyrus. it’s everywhere. and rarely appropriate, unless you’re in the “africa” section of disney’s animal kingdom or something to that effect.
Jon
Totally. People need to stop using system fonts for stuff. There should be some sort of typography outreach program…
b. chico
YOU WANNA HEAR SOMETHING FUCKED UP? FIRST, I’LL WRITE IT IN ALL CAPS! WITH LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS! HERE IT IS!! I LIKE COURIER! THE MOST! I WRITE EVERYTHING IN COURIER OR COURIER NEW, AND I DON’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE!! BECAUSE THAT WAY IT’S LIKE I WROTE IT ON A TYPEWRITER!!!!!!!!!!!
Justin Baeder
As a teacher, I use Comic Sans for worksheets and so forth because it looks like legible handwriting.
I wouldn’t use it for anything else, though, and I agree that it’s inappropriate for a business presentation.
It seems like it’s up to Microsoft to release good fonts with Windows and Office, since most people aren’t going to drop $20 or $30 on a font, especially if not everyone else has it. I haven’t heard good things about Arial or other MS favs, either, from the typography community, so hopefully Vista will come with a better set.
Oh, and Papyrus – very cool font, but not very useful even if you’re using it for logos because it’s so light – getting it to look bold is downright impossible. I mean, how am I supposed to promote a gladiatorial competition or an archaeological discovery if I can’t even use bold text?
Jon
Perhaps the White House should adopt Comic Sans as their official font – it would fit, but most of it isn’t funny.
Sicida1Poptart
Comic sans raped my mother, pillaged my land, and killed my family! >=(
the r-blog » My First Online Review (He Likes My Blog!)
[...] and considered) criticisms of a site I designed, mudpuddlestoys.com. First of all, not many design types care for Comic Sans, and Josh agrees quite wholeheartedly (he says, “Two words… Comic [...]
Sucka MC
I also have to agree that papyrus is a horrible font. I mean how can a font be as equally disgusting as Rosie O’Donnell in a bikini. I prefer to see it on one place only, and that is at the bottom of my shoe so I can continuously stomp on it.
Tank q.
ThatGuy
I use Arial. “It’s the exception.” See my theory is nobody uses Arial because everyone uses it. Therefore nobody uses it. So when I use it, it’s like no one had ever used it.
But Myriad, Papyrus, and Comic Sans are by far my favorite.
Jaybo
I completly AGREE! im so sick of comic sans! and papyrus! and the a bunch more i cant remember. i prefer bolder not too bold!, fonts that arent squished. i also like ‘tw cen mt’