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Comic Sans and the End of Western Civilisation

December 11th, 2006 by

Typeface imageLast week I was made to sit through yet another PowerPoint presentation in which the presenter had decided to enliven his turgidity with the help of the Comic Sans typeface.

I have sat through too many Comic Sans presentations (indeed, if I had only sat through one such presentation, that would still be too many). What is it about the typeface that causes presentations to become so unforgivably dry?

Actually, it may be the typeface itself. It is not a novelty typeface. It is a bog standard run-of-the-mill but hard to read typeface that slows down word recognition (and thus reading) whilst introducing too much pretty stuff to distract from the actual content.

It is a badly written typeface, derivative and unprofessional. And yet there are people who write stuff like this (okay, they are the creators of this abomination at Microsoft):

Comic Sans is the groovy script font which comes with the Windows 95 Plus! pack and is now available for the Apple Macintosh. Although it might be seen as a novelty typeface, which is great for titles, it’s also extremely readable on-screen at small sizes, making it a useful text face.

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/web/fonts/comicsns/default.htm

Groovy? I’m not sure that Microsoft know the meaning of the term (see their Zune product for example!) Great for titles? Titles of what??? I have never seen a title that was improved for being written in Comic Sans. Readable on screen? I beg to differ. I read comic sans text significantly more slowly than other text (if I bother to read it at all).

If you want to be taken seriously, just don’t do it. Don’t use Comic Sans typeface.

The above site goes on:

These pages are designed to be viewed using Microsoft Internet Explorer, with Comic Sans MS and Comic Sans Bold installed.

Ah.. I see. The reason this typeface looks so bad is that I don’t use Microsoft’s insecure browser. That about sums it up really.

Again I beg to differ. The page is irredeemable. No combination of browser and font is going to help it – because the writers really do not have a clue.

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    2 Comments »

    2 Responses to “Comic Sans and the End of Western Civilisation”

    1. on 11 Dec 2006 at 2:19 pm1 MInTheGap

      I’ve seen some presentations and things written in comic sans. The way I feel, if you want to convey a “laid back” attitude, go ahead and use it– but keep in mind it does not look professional (unless used so sparingly that it is not recognized).

    2. on 11 Dec 2006 at 11:50 pm2 Stephen

      But, of course, if you want a laid back feel, there are far better fonts available than Comic Sans.

      Thanks for the comment.

      Stephen

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