Why is comic sans

It looks homely and handwritten, something perfect for things we deem to be fun and liberating. Great for the awnings of toyshops, less good on news websites or on gravestones and the sides of ambulances. Last year it stuck out like an unfunny joke in Time magazine and Adidas adverts, and even the BBC wasn't immune, choosing the font to promote its Composers of the Year during the Proms. What can be done?

Holly and David Combs, the husband and wife cottage industry behind bancomicsans. Some of what the Combses have to say is tongue-in-cheek, but it is hard to disagree with their claims that type - used well or badly - has the ability to express meaning far beyond the basic words it clothes.

But why, more than any other font, has Comic Sans inspired so much revulsion? Partly because its ubiquity has led to such misuse or at least to uses far beyond its original intentions. And partly because it is so irritably simple, so apparently written by a small child.

Helvetica is everywhere and simple too, but it usually has the air of modern Swiss sophistication about it, or at least corporate authority. Comic Sans just smirks at you, and begs to be printed in multiple colours.

Perhaps the most comic thing about Comic Sans is that it was never designed as a font for common use. The pair solidified their commitment by publishing an anti-Comic Sans manifesto and selling a line of products online. Comic Sans Criminal is a website that allows you to report the inappropriate uses of the typeface.

It also provides a bunch of alternative comic book and dyslexia-friendly fonts you can use. David Kadavy explains the difference between comic sans and other fonts from a typographical perspective, giving us great nerd content to ponder over.

The wide-set, uniquely-shaped letters may assist dyslexic people in reading. The evidence of Comic Sans effectiveness, however, is scant, mostly because very little research has been done, and what has been done may depend on the expertise or research focus of the researcher think design expert versus a language expert.

In , Jon Severs, editor for the educational company Tes put it this way:. Comic Sans use should not be justified by claims of increased readability or benefits to dyslexic students or indeed for handwriting, but if you just like it, and your pupils like it, there is no good reason you should not use it. For those looking for typeface custom-made for dyslexic learners, check out Dyslexie and Open Dyslexic. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Join our email list to stay connected with the latest updates, events, and news from the TCEA team. Top Posts. Seven Keyboarding Tutorials to Share. Templates for Google Sites. One thing is clear to typographers: "Comic Sans is a sans serif typeface — designed to be informal, casual and used for that kind of material — like a comic ," Chaparro said.

And this, it seems, is where the problem lies for most people who despise its goofy characters. After the invention of Comic Sans, people started to use it in contexts that it wasn't intended for — such as, in formal documents — giving it a disjointed quality that some found jarring.

For example, if someone sends an email or writes a document using it," said Chaparro, "it results in a mismatch — an informal, childlike, 'funny' typeface for a potentially serious topic. Connare has a theory about why that occurred. In the s, when home computers started becoming the norm, they gave people a sense of agency that they hadn't had before. Suddenly, anyone with access to a computer could choose from a variety of fonts with which to personalize their documents.

The fact that it was being used outside of its rather limited purpose — that became obnoxious to people who knew better.