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font Fight

H

hitnrun7

Guest
Original poster
Jul 3, 2008
84
0
Hey everyone, so i just logged onto youtube and was greeted with a video entitled Font Fight. Knowing the general hate for Comic Sans, most of you will like the video (mainly the ending).

Here is the link, i hope this is not too off topic but its regarding typography which is an important element in design...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6djQHeqMwQ
 
Its just overused, and looks somewhat childish. HR use it too much in memos and the like.
 
Biggest problem I have with Comic Sans is when people send you emails in it. ugh! When will people learn that Comic Sans is about the most annoying font for anyone over 12. :D
 
there really is a lot of nonsense spread about CS. It's no more offensive than some other "soft" fonts. As for being used in emails, memos etc, i've never once seen it used outside of it's intended "comic" uses.
 
fluidedge said:
i've never once seen it used outside of it's intended "comic" uses.
Click to expand...

Then you must live in a cave! It's bl00dy everywhere! It was on the side of a plumber's van that passed me in the street yesterday, and the entire end credits of a BBC documentary about Johnny Cash shown a couple of weeks ago were done in the chuffing font!

FWIW, despite its name, it's not even fit for lettering comics. Apart from Comic Sans being horribly kerned, the style of lettering which it apes has a number of specific requirements, not least of which being a capital 'I' that has no end caps. Lettering a comic in Comic Sans MS is the equivalent of erecting a 30 foot high neon sign outside your house that says "I know nothing about lettering comics, please do not offer me work doing this. Ever."

Seriously. It's a vile font.

Cheers

Jim
 
Funny videos - both of them that are linked in this thread.

As for comic sans - I find it childish and unprofessional. It is curly, jokey like font that if any presentation I see uses it, I instantly make the assumption the presentation will be crap.

Maybe it's the fact when I was a kid, I used to print off everything in comic sans.. as did everyone else.


News Flash: Man falls down 100ft well

News Flash: Man falls down 100ft well


Which one looks more professional.. from anything from a documentary, to a presentation?
 
Who ever said it's professional??

Honestly see it for what it is. The clue is in the name. I can't stand people pontificating about the woes of comic sans.
 
fluidedge said:
Honestly see it for what it is. The clue is in the name. I can't stand people pontificating about the woes of comic sans.
Click to expand...

You keep saying that but, as I have pointed out, it's not even a good pastiche of the comic book lettering it professes mimic.

Plus, as I've already said, it looks like it was kerned by a two year-old.

And it's everywhere.

Aargh!

Jim
 
and yet despite its kerning and overall horridness it is pleasing enough to the eye to be instantly liked and chosen by millions of people from a list of hundreds of other fonts.

I'd call that an extremely successful font.
 
fluidedge said:
and yet despite its kerning and overall horridness it is pleasing enough to the eye to be instantly liked and chosen by millions of people from a list of hundreds of other fonts.

I'd call that an extremely successful font.
Click to expand...

Over 95% of people choose Windows as their operating system. That makes it successful, it doesn't make it good.

Cheers

Jim
 
For a mac community you guys seem to be pretty narrow minded with these things. Every font has a right place and time to use it. As for Comic Sans kerning, most fonts need manual kerning based on the word typed & the use.
I haven't had to use it recently, but 15 years ago my clients & bosses (Print shop owners) requested & demanded it a lot. Only thing you can do is lay it out with a good looking font also & a&b it & hope the pick the good one.
When they pick CS you kern it the best as you can, & move on.
It's just like the people who say you can't use Photoshop to design anything, only correct photos.
 
mperkins37 said:
For a mac community you guys seem to be pretty narrow minded with these things.
Click to expand...

Rubbish. It's a horrible font, amateurishly kerned, that doesn't even accurately mimic the style it professes to be based on. I don't expect to have manually adjust the kerning every single time I type the letter A, for example, which is pretty much what's required.

If you want a font that looks like comic book lettering, buy a proper lettering font. People use Comic Sans MS because it comes free with their machines, or with Office.

Buy Tim Sale and Tim Sale Lower, which aren't a million miles from Comic Sans, but are real, proper lettering fonts, decently kerned and nicely balanced, with custom ligatures.

Lettering.png


Spend the $80 and use a font that doesn't suck.

Cheers

Jim
 
People use Comic Sans MS because it comes free with their machines said:
Sometimes in the real world you work for a print shop that doesn't care & the boss tells you to use that font.
Most of my former bosses don't pay for anything. You are lucky to get software updates every 3 years, & if a customer tells them to use the font than you (the designer) get no say so.
Design studios are a different story, unfortunately some of us have never worked for one, & usually end up freelancing if we want to use our own creativity.
Click to expand...
 
mperkins37 said:
Sometimes in the real world you work for a print shop that doesn't care & the boss tells you to use that font.
Most of my former bosses don't pay for anything. You are lucky to get software updates every 3 years, & if a customer tells them to use the font than you (the designer) get no say so.
Design studios are a different story, unfortunately some of us have never worked for one, & usually end up freelancing if we want to use our own creativity.
Click to expand...

Boo hoo. Yes. I have worked in print shops, and I've been presented with logos in Comic Sans MS and told to use them as is.

Does that make it good design? No. Do you try your best to make your case? Yes, and if you're overruled, you suck it up and do the job. Still doesn't make it good design. Still means it's a horrible ****ing font.

For the sake of your design soul, shell out $80 of your own money (I did -- it gets you a commercial license) and swap the font out without telling them. Trust me -- anyone who knows enough about typography to tell the difference wouldn't have asked you to use the font in the first place.

Cheers

Jim
 
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