
Why I created Comic Sans - twog
http://www.connare.com/whycomic.htm
======
simonsarris
Comic Sans as a font needs no defense.

Just like a good band with bad fans, we don't balk at Comic Sans, we balk at
the people who use comic sans for inappropriate things. (Or to use a more
computery analogy, there's nothing wrong with capital letters or all-caps, but
some users use them inappropriately).

City memo minutes should not be distributed in Comic Sans. Wedding invitations
should probably not be in Comic Sans. The Surrey police should not have
released a memo on rape and sexual assault in Comic Sans[1].

There are times when you do not want to be unserious and insincere, and some
people are, and its embarrassing. Comic Sans is just a vector for that, but if
you find fault with it, its still the people who are at fault.

[1] <http://i.imgur.com/C6QY1yp.jpg>

(The Surrey Police strike again! <http://i.imgur.com/Kn68ubk.jpg>)

(the compulsive designers in us will notice the logo at the top of that one is
off-center, too)

~~~
Samuel_Michon
_"Comic Sans as a font needs no defense."_

I disagree, it's just not a good font. It has zero contrast (not suitable for
display text and print), no harmony (not suitable for body text), and it's
poorly hinted (not suitable for screen text). It looks more like finger
painting than comic lettering [1]. It's not even a true sans serif; in the
article, the author admits to cheating.

There are way better fonts that Microsoft could've licensed for MS Bob, like
Helvetica Rounded [2] or Dom Casual [3].

[1] <http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/hanoded/inky-fingers/>

[2] <http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/helvetica-rounded/>

[3] <http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/paratype/dom-casual/>

~~~
coldtea
> _I disagree, it's just not a good font. It has zero contrast (not suitable
> for display text and print), no harmony (not suitable for body text), and
> it's poorly hinted (not suitable for screen text)._

Which is beside the point. It wasn't supposed to be used for body text or
print in small sizes. And it doesn't have to be hinted because it's not meant
to be used for long form screen text.

Would you call a title font "bad" because it's not suitable for body text?

As for it "not even being a true sans serif", there are several fonts that
cross those boundaries while being perfectly fine. Not being a true
"sans/serif" is not some badge of dishonour.

Comic Sans is a good font because it is perfectly suited to convey the message
people use it for: child-like, friendliness, common folk-syness etc. As such
it's great for personal posters, party invitations, signs, yard sales,
elementary school signs, etc.

Notice that even if that wasn't the usage intended by its creators, it's still
a good font, because it found it's own niche.

~~~
lloeki
I found the last example pretty convincing: I did not recognise Chalkboard,
and the first part seemed readable to me to the point I said myself _"Well,
Comic Sans is not so bad finally"_... and then the last line instantly jumped
at me due to kerning and baseline. Comic Sans glyphs seem to each stand on
their own, unable to keep themselves together to form a word. Chalkboard is
far from perfect (see k-e kern) but it is way more readable, even for small
text or stand-alone words.

The case against Comic Sans in undue context is due to the funny glyphs, while
the case against Comic Sans vs other comic fonts is due not to the glyphs but
to the whitespace around them.

~~~
coldtea
> _Comic Sans glyphs seem to each stand on their own, unable to keep
> themselves together to form a word. The case against Comic Sans in undue
> context is due to the funny glyphs, while the case against Comic Sans vs
> other comic fonts is due not to the glyphs but to the whitespace around
> them._

This whitespace and keming problems though might add to the naive appeal of
the font. Like, for example, bad perspective and distorted proportions make a
drawing more child-like.

~~~
SourPatch
> keming

Is that a typographical pun?

~~~
qu4z-2
I'm not sure if it's technically a pun, but it's definitely a typographical
joke.

------
awakeasleep
Sad that Mr. Connare feels the need to defend the creation of one of the most
popular typefaces of all time. I can't help but feel like some point has been
missed.

When I think about all the serious thought and energy that went into the fonts
available to us, and the ratio by which the average person chooses comic sans
or papyrus after scrolling through their long, user-hostile list of typefaces,
I feel like a market is underserved.

------
tikhonj
One of the reasons people don't like Comic Sans is because it was overused,
largely thanks to being included with a bunch of default Microsoft tools. It
was also use in the wrong contexts.

Amusingly, I think the same holds true of the typeface that sparked the whole
thing: Time New Roman. Far too many people use it for far too much, sometimes
in the wrong context. So maybe we should all use Times less too! (I tend to
use Palatino or Garamond myself.)

I'm tired of seeing the same few fonts everywhere. For whatever reason Times
and Comic Sans really stand out, but this really holds for all the "web-safe"
fonts--which also happen to be the fonts everyone used to flock to in
Microsoft Word.

Please consider branching out and using something else for your next document.

~~~
Surio
Thanks. This is what I wanted to say as well. I am heartily sick of
Times/Arial/Comic as you rightly said. Hell, I even saw it on some road
sign/car parking bays where some kind of large Sans (Highway Sans??) is
legally obligatory! Now Times as replace the venerable Courier New in US govt.
documents.... Oh the horror!

For me it was anything but those. :-) +1 for Palatino/Garamond. I also read
somewhere that Garamond uses less ink too (but readability on A5 for fonts
less than 11 pt is somewhat hard)

Serif: I am partial to Century Schoolbook myself because it is eminently
readable by all ages (on 10pt no less!) on A5 sizes. (I read somewhere that
this was the first font that launched Knuth's imagination on kerning, etc. (in
a nice way), and his life long fascination for typography)

Sans-Serif: Century Gothic - thin but very readable on small sizes as well. I
later found out that this font takes up less printer ink while being printed
as well. So double yay!

>> Please consider branching out and using something else for your next
document

Very true. At least in this day and age of fontsquirrel, dafont, urbanfont,
etc. etc.... there is no excuse to spend at least 15 mins to look for some
interesting fonts. :-)

~~~
chestnut-tree
_"I am heartily sick of Times/Arial/Comic..."_

When Microsoft released Windows Vista in 2007, it included new typefaces some
of which I think are really nice.

\- Calibri (a lovely sans-serif design) and Consolas (a monospace typeface)
were designed by Dutch type designer Lucas De Groot [1]

\- Cambria (a serif typeface) was designed by the Dutch type designer Jelle
Bosma, Steve Matteson (who designed the popular Google-commisioned font Open
Sans) and Robin Nicholas.

\- Constantia (another serif typeface) by the Canada-based type designer John
Hudson

To see examples of all of these fonts, see
[http://www.ascendercorp.com/catalog/microsoft/clear-type-
fon...](http://www.ascendercorp.com/catalog/microsoft/clear-type-font-
collection/)

There's no need for Windows' users to default to Arial or Times New Roman
anymore. Excellent aletrnatives that come with the OS have been available for
many years.

1\. <http://www.lucasfonts.com/case-studies/calibri-consolas/>

~~~
nateweiss
Yes. I love that Consolas is included in Windows now. I always set my code
text editors to use it when I'm on Windows, and try to get other folks to try
it too. Such a pleasant fixed-width font to use when coding. It can also be
used on the Mac.

------
aneth4
And here I thought it was just to piss off pretentious typography fascists and
give self-righteous design snobs something to huff about.

Really, I've always been a defender of comic sans as appropriate where the
intent is to be casual or personal.

One critical comment by a BBC article reader:

"The main problem I have with Comic Sans is that it makes everything written
in it look like a parish newsletter pinned to a noticeboard outside the local
church."

Exactly. Isn't that the point?

Criticizing this font is like criticizing a 5 year old child's handwriting on
a birthday card, and asking why he didn't have professionally calligraphy.

~~~
larrydavid
I don't think even the most pretentious of designers would ever scoff at the
use of Comic Sans where it was appropriate and fitting, such as on the
invitation to a 6 year old's birthday party. That's where is fits, it exudes
'fun'.

Where 'pretentious' designers do begin to huff is when it is used in a clearly
inappropriately context such as on police notices raising awareness of rape.

The handwriting example isn't particularly good because learning calligraphy
is a skill that I assume takes a decent amount of time to reach proficiency
in. Making a couple of extra clicks in a word processor and selecting
something like Arial is not.

<http://inappropriatecomicsans.tumblr.com/day/2012/03/17>

~~~
aneth4
As mentioned in the original link, Times New Roman and every font has
inappropriate and appropriate uses, though that in itself is an absolute
judgement we can probably do without.

Those inappropriate uses involving Comic Sans may be more funny, but other
than that, it's hard to argue pretentious designers have not had a bit too
much fun bagging on Comic Sans simply out of schadenfreude.

------
beatpanda
Dude. Creative Writer _changed my life._ I had forgotten about it until I read
this article. I was experimenting with long-form fiction writing and
screenplays at like 7 or 8 years old thanks largely to that program.

~~~
rayhano
Putting backgrounds on my English essays in school, with Creative Writer, got
me extra marks.

Back then, different fonts weren't used at all.

Now, we have more fonts than we can shake a stick at, but still no easy way
for lay people to access new/different fonts. System fonts rule on for a while
longer.

------
peterkelly
What I really want to see is an article on "Why I created Microsoft Bob"

------
obstacle1
Simon Garfield wrote a great book called "Just My Type"[1] which dives deep
into the history of landmark fonts. Includes a full chapter on Comic Sans,
highly recommended read.

~~~
eru
You forgot your footnote.

~~~
nivla
Yup _obstacle_ did forget his footnote which I was also interested in.

Making a guess that it is going to be a link to Amazon, let me steal that
chance: [http://www.amazon.com/Just-My-Type-About-
Fonts/dp/1592407463...](http://www.amazon.com/Just-My-Type-About-
Fonts/dp/1592407463/)

~~~
obstacle1
Sorry! I messed up, I did mean to post an amazon link. Thanks for picking up
where I'm slacking.

------
BenjaminCoe
<http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole>

------
HunterV
There is nothing wrong with Comic Sans, it's the overuse and inappropriate use
that is the problem.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Just like guns and sugar.

~~~
HunterV
and just about anything else.

------
justjimmy
Speaking of Comic Sans…here's a $100,000 rebranding for a town in Ontario -
Port Hope.

<http://www.designedgecanada.com/news/2013/20130115688.shtml>

:P

~~~
drucken
Canada has some interesting towns. I wonder if a Comic Sans rebranding would
do anything for "Swastika, Ontario" - the sort of naming equivalent for
radioactivity - for example! :)

------
Argorak
"Design for hackers" also has an interesting section about comic sans that can
be found here as a blog post:

<http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-you-hate-comic-sans/>

Especially interesting is the discussion that comic sans is actually a good
font when it comes to aliasing. ("Comic Sans isn’t Used as Intended")

------
troymc
Amusing: one (pidgin) interpretation of "Comic Sans" is "without humour."

~~~
endgame
Similarly, the font assembled from scans of the lettering in xkcd comics is
called "Humour Sans".

------
smackmybishop
<http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07052007>

------
IgorPartola
> Because it's sometimes better than Times New Roman, that's why.

Isn't this why most things exist? Because sometimes they are better than other
similar thing?

~~~
signed0
That fails to account for things which everything else is always better, such
as Windows ME.

------
neya
On a side note, Comic Sans was used in the (possibly early) Samsung Galaxy
phones for quite a while in their UI (Settings etc.)

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
A UI that were terrible and that the Samsung management spent ages comparing
to the iPhone UI and pointing out how terrible it was.

------
doctorpangloss
Shameless plug: Where Errol Morris discovers Comic Sans makes you disbelieve
things. By a tiny amount.

[http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/hear-all-
ye-...](http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/hear-all-ye-people-
hearken-o-earth/)

------
mkopinsky
Offtopic semi-ignorant question: As a non-designer, can someone explain to me
why I'd ever need more than a single serif font, a single sans-serif font, a
single monospace font (and ok, a single "fun" font)? Why should I care about
the differences between Times New Roman and Garamond, or between Arial and
Verdana? Even when I look closely I struggle to see the differences within
categories, so I find it hard to believe that my document or logo or whatever
will be perceived differently by a reader because it uses the wrong font
within the correct category.

~~~
tommikaikkonen
You can't not communicate with a typeface - they always have a certain feel,
which is why there's a whole lot of them. Typefaces also have characteristics
that make them more suitable for certain situations. For example, Georgia is
designed for the screen with a tall x-height but Garamond looks better in
print with its small x-height. Then there's condensed fonts, small caps.. It's
certainly hard for a non-designer to catch all the visual differences but I
believe they are sensed subconsciously by all.

~~~
ghaff
I agree with everything you say. That said, it's also true that there are an
awful lot of fonts out there but a relatively small number are used for most
day to day screen and print use. I know that when I have a project such as a
book, I tend to end up spending a bunch of time fussing around--and, at the
end of the day, I usually go back to some variant of the standby fonts I
routinely use.

------
Tekker
Regarding Comic Sans misuse, I suspect many people are looking for a
"handwritten" font, of which Comic Sans is often the first similar sort of
thing, and people gravitate to it.

------
crusso
I'm shocked and awed that this magnificent internet battle has been waged for
years and I never noticed it.

Is it too late for me to have an opinion on whether or not I hate Comic Sans?

~~~
tripzilch
It's never quite too late, but you might want to really _rage_ about it, to
make up for all the lost time.

------
bobwaycott
> _There was no intention to include the font in other applications other than
> those designed for children when I designed Comic Sans._

End of discussion.

------
raarky
Teachers like to use Comic Sans because of the little 'a'. It's the same as
the one you learn to write.

All the other fonts use the weird typewriter 'a.

~~~
ward
This argument doesn't fly when you are only taught to write in cursive, as is
the case everywhere here in Belgium (and surrounding countries?), as far as I
am aware. It still got overused here as well. I remember one teacher in
highschool claiming Comic Sans was better (more readable) for people with
dyslexia. I never checked that out, but I don't attribute much truth to it.

------
d00r
One of the things that will be harder to justify is the use of raw white text
on raw black background.

------
_pferreir_
Wait, let me first put my Comic Sans T-Shirt on...

<http://bit.ly/WVck0J>

(Sorry, could not resist)

Anyway, happy to see that even the font's creator agrees that it shouldn't be
used for anything more serious than educational software and birthday
invitations.

------
dbbolton
It kind of surprises me that a photographer and typeface designer would choose
#ffffff text on a #000000 background, something that the average person can
only stand to look at for a few seconds before needing to rest his or her
eyes.

------
kristofferR
Comic Sans is the Justin Bieber of fonts - hated by a lot, yet incredibly
popular.

~~~
signed0
In both cases those that hate them spend far too much time expressing their
hatred.

------
mdesq
Mad props for creating one of the most recognized and discussed fonts.

------
rmrfrmrf
That image at the bottom says it's Comic Sans, but it's Chalkboard.

~~~
bnegreve
Only the last line is Comic Sans, that's the point.

------
spoiler
is it weird how I could tell the difference between the apple imitation and
the Microsoft's original version (noticed it right after I read the "If")? In
all honesty, I think that the apple version has a little bit more balance and
neatness to it, but I have nothing against comic sans. I guess I qualify as a
mediocre, amateur designer, since I dabble with design often out of fun, even
earned money from it a few times, but I am not sure if my naive opinion
counts.

------
JDGM
Now I've read that article I can clearly hear myself saying "Comic Sans is the
typeface of a talking dog" countless times over the next rest of my life.

------
plg
Design of the OP's web page. That is all.

------
jmodp
Comic sans has a place as a font which may be easier for dyslexic students to
read.

------
Tekker
Why is the uppercase D so droopy? That's the one character I hate in the font.

------
webwielder
Whither Comic Serif?

~~~
threedaymonk
It exists! (And it's not bad, either.)

<http://www.dafont.com/hvd-comic-serif.font>

------
tyang
Comic Sans: Because some of us run lemonade stands.

------
orochi235
Why am I not surprised that his grammar sucks?

------
egonschiele
Of course this blog has poor typography: small font size with no attention
paid to margins or readability. You may design typefaces, but you sir are no
type designer.

~~~
vor_
According to the copyright at the bottom, the page was written 10 years ago,
when most screens used smaller resolutions.

------
moron4hire
I have so much more important things to worry about than the withertos and
whyfors of fonts.

------
rikacomet
Apple: Windows started it! (copying)

Microsoft: Apple started it!

Linux: Come here you two, no dessert for either of you tonight

(sorry, couldn't resist :P)

~~~
Apocryphon
What would BSD say?

~~~
stingrae
When I was your age...

