What did an innocent font do?

I am a fan of Comics Sans font, in fact I used it often when I still have my personalized items business. You can’t go wrong with the children’s giveaways.

But what did an innocent font do to merit a movement calling for its eradication? Yes, there is a Ban Comic Sans movement (and a website) campaigning for the total deletion of this popular font from existence.

The online version of the Wall Street Journal even described it as a font of ill will, and said that even it’s creator Vincent Connare, sympathizes with the worldwide movement to ban it.

CNET news article says that it is not pretty for many. Both sites even quote the joke which goes, “Comics Sans walks into a bar, bartender says, ‘We don’t serve your type.’”

Connare, it’s creator says, “If you love it, you don’t know much about typography.” But, he adds, “if you hate it, you really don’t know much about typography, either, and you should get another hobby.”

The Ban Comics Sans movement was actually started in 1999, and so far it hasn’t been successful in it’s campaign as the font is really popular… and in fact, overused (which is one of the main complain of the movement).

Holly Sligger, one of the founder, was then just a senior at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, studying typography and graphic design.

She said she was horrified when her bosses told her to use Comics Sans in her designs for a museum gallery guide for children’s hands-on artifact exhibit. Suggesting other typefaces she thought better suited, they insisted on Comics Sans.

The movement’s weapons include disapproving stickers, which they slap on inappropriate uses of the font wherever they are found. They also have merchandise for sale, like t-shirts, caps, and jackets which bear the movement’s logo and the ‘Ban Comics Sans’ message.

I still don’t know why there is such a fuzz on a single font that even Walt Disney uses. This was also discussed in MyLot, and nobody really understands the logic of it all.

I don’t hear anybody complaining about the most overused Times New Roman!

Anyway, here’s a nice video where the fonts were having their conference, and trouble came up… and guess who came to save to the day? You’re right -- Comics Sans!

It’s a funny video. Watch it.

Reminds me of the meeting of my blogs

Tags: ban comics sans movement, comics sans, font, font conference, fonts, Holly Sliger, Vincent Connare, walt disney, YouTube