4 ms·

I think designers tend to overestimate how much the average end user cares about their font choice. If you can avoid using that old English font or any of the

by 13of40 11y ago

I think designers tend to overestimate how much the average end user cares about their font choice. If you can avoid using that old English font or any of the ones that look like cursive handwriting, you're doing well enough for 99% of the audience. The world would get along just fine if all we had were Times New Roman, Consolas, Comic Sans, and maybe a "serious" sans serif one.

dasil003 11y ago
Design has a longer history than computers, so it's dangerous to approach things from a pure computer perspective as you have here. It's tempting to think that design is just superfluous puffery, but that is not the case. Design is about improving communication and usability, it differs from art in that it requires some concrete purpose (even if that purpose is aesthetic). If, as you suggest, we only had four typefaces, yes, we would get along fine. However pretty soon a bored person would create a new typeface, and that new typeface would grab everyone's attention and thus be a huge competitive advantage. So you see, a four-typeface world is just not a stable state. Another very important thing to recognize about design is that the "user caring about font choice" has absolutely nothing to do with design. Design does its job unconsciously. Of course anyone is free to critique anything, whether or not they know anything about design, they are still free to state their thoughts and preferences. But the designer's goal is not for any sizable chunk of their audience to recognize and applaud their font choice; that's just not what design is about.
- skybrian 11y ago
  Comic sans is a bit less readable but not that much for short passages. It's certainly not enough to justify hatred. Design is a way of demonstrating social class. Its rules don't have to make sense as long as they're useful for showing that you're a member of the class that cares about design and thinks that certain designs are good. They also don't need to be consciously understood. Font choice demonstrates social class whether or not the audience understands how it works. It's one of the reasons why it's important in business to hire a good designer. So while certain font choices may be more legible and designers may use legibility to rationalize them, that's less important than demonstrating that you're one of those people who gets design. This causes subtle differences to be magnified since it's about showing allegiance. So when someone chooses comic sans they may be ignorant, but what are they ignorant about? A well-known social rule. They may also be using it either deliberately or unconsciously as a way of demonstrating they're not a member of the social classes that "get" good design. So, personally, I've learned to be more forgiving of "bad" design, and also "bad" spelling and grammar, even though I try to get it right myself. I don't want to be that judgmental about social class.
  - dasil003 11y ago
    Very interesting perspective you bring, I can't say I disagree with anything you've said. From my perspective, most things people hate don't justify hatred because honestly the emotion of hatred is meant to be deployed in more high stakes scenarios, a good deal of which have been removed from our modern sanitized society (especially—to your point—for the middle to upper classes). People get angry about all kinds of ridiculous nonsense. That said, I don't think design is primarily a social construct. There is actual meat to design. Design can communicate social constructs, but it's not some kind of insider's club for the upper class. There's a basic barrier to entry, but it's no more exclusive than any other form of higher education, which these days is lower than ever.

by 13of40 11y ago

dasil003 11y ago

Design has a longer history than computers, so it's dangerous to approach things from a pure computer perspective as you have here. It's tempting to think that design is just superfluous puffery, but that is not the case. Design is about improving communication and usability, it differs from art in that it requires some concrete purpose (even if that purpose is aesthetic). If, as you suggest, we only had four typefaces, yes, we would get along fine. However pretty soon a bored person would create a new typeface, and that new typeface would grab everyone's attention and thus be a huge competitive advantage. So you see, a four-typeface world is just not a stable state. Another very important thing to recognize about design is that the "user caring about font choice" has absolutely nothing to do with design. Design does its job unconsciously. Of course anyone is free to critique anything, whether or not they know anything about design, they are still free to state their thoughts and preferences. But the designer's goal is not for any sizable chunk of their audience to recognize and applaud their font choice; that's just not what design is about.

skybrian 11y ago
Comic sans is a bit less readable but not that much for short passages. It's certainly not enough to justify hatred. Design is a way of demonstrating social class. Its rules don't have to make sense as long as they're useful for showing that you're a member of the class that cares about design and thinks that certain designs are good. They also don't need to be consciously understood. Font choice demonstrates social class whether or not the audience understands how it works. It's one of the reasons why it's important in business to hire a good designer. So while certain font choices may be more legible and designers may use legibility to rationalize them, that's less important than demonstrating that you're one of those people who gets design. This causes subtle differences to be magnified since it's about showing allegiance. So when someone chooses comic sans they may be ignorant, but what are they ignorant about? A well-known social rule. They may also be using it either deliberately or unconsciously as a way of demonstrating they're not a member of the social classes that "get" good design. So, personally, I've learned to be more forgiving of "bad" design, and also "bad" spelling and grammar, even though I try to get it right myself. I don't want to be that judgmental about social class.
- dasil003 11y ago
  Very interesting perspective you bring, I can't say I disagree with anything you've said. From my perspective, most things people hate don't justify hatred because honestly the emotion of hatred is meant to be deployed in more high stakes scenarios, a good deal of which have been removed from our modern sanitized society (especially—to your point—for the middle to upper classes). People get angry about all kinds of ridiculous nonsense. That said, I don't think design is primarily a social construct. There is actual meat to design. Design can communicate social constructs, but it's not some kind of insider's club for the upper class. There's a basic barrier to entry, but it's no more exclusive than any other form of higher education, which these days is lower than ever.