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Comic Sans is a pockmark on the ass of Typography

By mister jason • Nov 21st, 2005 • Category: Design Geeky
Comic Sans is not the way to look official

About 10 years ago, Microsoft created a typeface called Comic Sans. You’ve no doubt seen it being used in countless hideous ways. Racergirl is in the process of interviewing for high fallutin’ doctoring stuff at hospitals all over the place right now. She showed me an itinerary that one of them sent her that was set entirely in Comic Sans. How official. Since seeing that little gem my hatred of the dreaded Comic Sans has begun festering anew and I’ve run across some pretty funny and tragic related things.

Fighting the good fight is ban comic sans.
Of course, a photostream of photos tagged with comic sans on flickr has surfaced. As a funny aside, there’s a nice picture of the fabled Microsoft Bob in there.

Unfortunately, pretty much anyone that has a Microsoft package installed on their machine also has Comic Sans installed. It’s come to be the best effort many people make at seeming different or informal. For the love of god stop it! Thank you, have a nice day.

mister jason is a post-hardcore rock'n'roller, graphic designer, amateur chef, typography nerd, coffee connoisseur, radio guy, motorcyclist, skateboard commuter, and a reluctant adult. He lives in Portland's Old Town area with the lovely Dr. Adrienne and Rocco the Dog.
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5 Responses »

  1. Right on. Death to Comic Sans. Fuckers.

  2. I recently interviewed at the hospital that sent me the infamous itinerary in comic sans. The program is a good one, but at the end of the day the program director proudly handed me an invitation to dinner–also in comic sans. I came this close–>[] to making a comment about it (something like “dude, COMIC SANS?! Is the dinner at Chucky Cheese?”), but I held my toungue. I am looking for a job after all. But needless to say, creepy comic sans makes a crappy first (and last) impression.

    PEOPLE: JUST SAY NO TO COMIC SANS (unless your name is Buffi or Jodi and you dot your i’s with little hearts–then what the hell–go nuts).

  3. [...] I love to read all about how badly your child stomped the competition in the spelling bee and how many stiches Bob had to get after his little fishing mishap. It’s just that I have a tough time getting past the giant Comic Sans headlines. You’re not a designer. Fine. You don’t have to be. That’s why I’m here. (Before you ask. No.) I will give you some simple advice from someone who does this sort of thing for a living. This post is falling on Typography Tuesday around here, so I’ll try to restrict this to that arena. We can talk about color and layout some other time. (Something a bit more designery next week, I promise. This is important, dammit!) [...]

  4. Could this text be any more plain?…

    Excuse me while I guffaw at this: The results from this study suggest there is a relationship between typeface selection and the reader’s perception of an email. The email presented in the typeface that was judged in previous studies to……

  5. [...] from the question of what there could possibly be on God’s green earth for which Comic Sans is “moderately ap… I plan to ignore this entirely; anything you get from me will be in your mail client’s [...]

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