Whether a delivery van drives past covered in it or someone hands me a flyer with information in cheery Comic Sans, I despise it. If a restaurant displays its menu using the font, I’m out of there. That’s a bad omen, a foreshadowing of a certain negative experience.
Why do people still use Comic Sans? Is it because it looks friendly? Apparently, the guy who designed it said it was intended for the speech bubbles of an animated cartoon dog that would help people navigate the Microsoft Windows interface for the first time. To me it just looks cheap, and I’m sure lots of people around the world would agree.
Just to put into perspective how much everyone hates this font, here’s an interesting fact: Twitter once tweeted that the most server space complaints are first about airlines, second about Comic Sans, and third, Justin Bieber. That’s quite a notable accomplishment.
Funnily enough, I actually really like raging about the formal use of Comic Sans. I love spotting the font in the most inappropriate places and getting annoyed about it. In fact, a friend of mine and myself have even pondered over the idea of starting a Comic Sans Instagram page, where we would be posting our (almost) daily Comic Sans sightings.
So, although to some extent I sympathise with the people who started the ‘Ban Comic Sans’ movement, it wouldn’t really feel right having a world without everyone’s least favourite font. To add to that: recently, the ‘Ban Comic Sans’ Facebook page actually changed its name to ‘Use Comic Sans’ in a sudden change of heart.
So, I guess I’ll just have to get used to the fact that the illustrious font will be sticking around for a little while.
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