6 ms·

In Defense of Comic Sans

23 points by miobrien 7y ago

ddingus 7y ago
I like Comic Sans when I see super smart people, like physicists as an example, use it in presentations. Makes me think of Feynman and all his crazy antics. Maybe there always needs to be irreverent time. Human feature. Use it. I do not mind. Never did. It also makes me think of Mrs what's her name long ago in primary school. She opened my eyes to the wonder of the world and the many peoples in it. Someone would have done that, I am sure. It is the how she did it. Was with a laugh, like "can you believe this place we are in?" I treasure that vibe. Matters.
- jszymborski 7y ago
  We could always tell in my courses when a lecturer was a Physician Researcher depending on whether or not their slides had a Yellow/White/Red text on a blue-to-dark-blue gradient background. It was eerie how common it was, despite the clinicians coming from different hospitals/universities/backgrounds.
- mark-r 7y ago
  Yes, Comic Sans is irreverent. That's both its appeal and its curse. It's very easy to be overexposed to it.
  - ddingus 7y ago
    Late reply, I know but I was thinking about this some. I always try hard to meet people where they are, if I am able. I am generally interested in their thoughts. Getting at those is easiest when one sets other things aside. Spelling, grammar, style, etc... An example might be little kids. Or someone foreign. In both cases, the norms are borked up, lots of little, expected things, and sometimes bigger things do not play out by rule, or in unexpected ways. Overexposure is one of those little things. I may not even notice when those thoughts are compelling. How often have we, in general here as people, snuffed out a promising bud of thought or had an impression be discordant with the actual, flat out missed or botched an opportunity to benefit, perhaps mutually? Me? Many times to the point of just opening up some. Fewer expectations and assumptions both tend to maximize communication potential. There are few downsides. Like I said above, I don't mind. Have in the past. Do not now. Maybe the one downside is I tend to not raise the bar when I probably should at times. Not sure it is worth it now however. This does tend to be self selecting too. Sometimes it is just a lot of work to converse with people much more focused and demanding of these things. Before doing it these days, I will qualify it more than I have in the past. At least the payoff is more consistent.
- ljm 7y ago
  Not that I’m calling myself super smart, because spending so much time commenting on forums about things I don’t know that much about probably means I’m not, but Comic Sans is my goto font for pretty much all my presentations. Comic sans and well placed gifs. It’s part of the charm for me, and I use it as a self-confidence boost and a reminder that life doesn’t have to be so serious, because now I can inject some humour into a talk and I have to own that well enough to keep a straight face while delivering the material. Especially in your typical office set up, it’s quite cathartic, and I genuinely enjoy showing people that you don’t have to be so perfect. I have a lot of respect for people who can bring a bit of lightness to what can otherwise be quite dull day. We are all human after all. As an example, I think Gary Bernhardt is great with this. The Wat talk is a classic.
  - ddingus 7y ago
    I agree with you and articulated my sentiment with coarse precision. I share your respect. There has to be a better way to say it, but people using comic sans for this vibe, who could easily pull off something else gets at it.
- yiyus 7y ago
  > I like Comic Sans when I see super smart people, like physicists as an example, use it in presentations. I still remember that very interesting presentation by Fabiola Gianotti when they presented the results that proved the existence of the Higgs Boson. In Comic Sans.
  - ddingus 7y ago
    That one was notable. I remember it too.
the_enigma 7y ago
Please remove this paid content! PS: what's your reason for rudely flagging me! PSPS you faggot
daveslash 7y ago
I've heard that it is actually a really great font for people who suffer from dyslexia. Also, obligatory link (some language, but otherwise sfw) https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole
- ntw1103 7y ago
  I have dyslexia, and I can attest that I find it easier/quicker to read than some other fonts.
- eddieh 7y ago
  This gets repeated over and over, but if you look at the literature, empirical studies are split between _may_ slightly help to no observable difference. Where things get interesting are studies that take into account letter spacing, they show that Comic Sans spacing may somewhat help. Still, if you apply the same spacing to a regular font, accuracy increases about the same. The accuracy increase is so minimal that it probably presents no practical advantage AFAICT.
karmakaze 7y ago
The only knock on Comic Sans was people thinking/using it as Tekton which is a different target demographic.
earthboundkid 7y ago
Hating Comic Sans is lame and old. Hating Lobster is new and hip.
- Grollicus 7y ago
  Are you talking about lobste.rs or are you talking about this font? https://www.dafont.com/lobster.font https://www.dafont.com/lobster.font Where is it used?
  - hybrids 7y ago
    They're referring to the font, yes. Lots of people used it in the post-Web 2.0 era because it has a "distinctive" look, which naturally lent itself to fatigue. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lobster-font https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lobster-font https://web.archive.org/web/20180213181648/http://5in5nyc.com/2012/05/31/dear-startups-lobster-is-the-new-comic-sans/ https://web.archive.org/web/20180213181648/http://5in5nyc.co...
- JohnFen 7y ago
  I've never hated Comic Sans, and still don't. But there's no question in my mind that it was overused, and -- worse -- often used inappropriately.
- jhanschoo 7y ago
  In-between, after Apple bundled Zapfino making it accessible, and before Google Fonts made Lobster accessible, it was Zapfino that was abused everywhere.
- stallmanite 7y ago
  I have always hated Times New Roman. I am alone in the world.
janitor61 7y ago
Is there a monospaced Comic Sans I can use in my IDE?
- Naac 7y ago
  https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/tabular-type-foundry/comic-code/ https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/tabular-type-foundry/comic-cod...
cwkoss 7y ago
I find comic sans much harder to speed-read than other fonts. The trope of "comic sans is bad" has become an overused meme, but it is rooted in truth in my opinion. To me, declaring that you like Comic Sans is like declaring that you like the Kardashians. Doesn't mean you're a bad person, but it certainly calls your taste into question.
- mark-r 7y ago
  "comic sans is bad" may be an overused meme, but not as bad as comic sans itself.
  - yiyus 7y ago
    The position of the font's author looks very reasonable to me (from the article): > If you love Comic Sans you don't know much about typography. And if you hate it, you need a new hobby.
    - mark-r 7y ago
      I don't hate Comic Sans, just sort of dislike it intensely. And yes I do need a new hobby.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
jwilk 7y ago
Archived copy: https://archive.is/2SqY9 https://archive.is/2SqY9
LeoNatan25 7y ago
Click the reader button of your browser to be able to read this text. :-P
KingMachiavelli 7y ago
Luckily, due to whatever fonts I have installed (linux), I sadly cannot see the comic sans version.
ben509 7y ago
After a while I wondered if he'd ever actually defend it, but he does: > Comic Sans, I have learned, is also a typeface favored by the British Dyslexia Association... > I like the spaciousness it allows between letters. > I can see an entire sentence in it as I can in no other typeface. > I feel it provides a clarity for me as a writer that is helpful in revising my writing — and revising, it has been noted, is what writing is really all about. If I were writing this kind of defense on another subject, it'd go like this: > In defense of spoons: > I find that I have to butter my toast with them slowly and carefully. > I feel that as I'm carving a turkey, the bluntness helps me take my time and the spoon is quite good at breaking the joints apart. It seems like a sane defense of Comic Sans is that it's great for lettering comics and short, playful announcements. If you're dyslexic and don't have a proper font like OpenDyslexic, it's useful there, too. Not all fonts need to be as universal as Helvetica.
- yiyus 7y ago
  > It seems like a sane defense of Comic Sans is that it's great for lettering comics A comic typed in Comic Sans has the same problems of a novel in Comic Sans or an advertisement in Comic Sans. Unless it is done on purpose in some sarcastic way, it's perceived as a sign of low quality and bad design. Actually, most professional comics use custom fonts, and choosing the type face is a relatively common topic of discussion between comic authors and editors.
- atoav 7y ago
  The criticism on Comic Sans consists of two factions: - Designers who often critizise weird usage of the font (e.g. it is great for a birthday party invitation and bad for a stern warning inholving serious danger) - people who misread that criticism, hop onto a bandwaggon of their own making and say the font is bad as a whole, because it is not “serious” Anybody knoes that papyrus font? This had a similar story, with sometimes absurd usages.
  - ricc 7y ago
    I’m probably one of those who use the Papyrus font a tad too often when I was in high school...
spraak 7y ago
My wife homeschool's our daughter (which I add to the context for that it shows she wouldn't have already been exposed to Comic Sans from public school) and one day my wife decided to switch some of the worksheets she created for our daughter to use Comic Sans. Our daughter was really excited about the change and said that now they're "more fun and easier to read, it seems more like a kid made this".
- yiyus 7y ago
  > it seems more like a kid made this Your daughter is very right. That's why it is not the most appropriate font for a legal letter from an attorney, for example.
lostgame 7y ago
I immediately said ‘that’s not Comic Sans’, and then read the first line, which states that on iOS it’s Marker Felt.
dwohnitmok 7y ago
One of the big Haskell luminaries, Simon Peyton Jones, exclusively uses Comic Sans in his presentation slides. This talk has more: https://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/1bd1ia/spj_and_comic_sans/ https://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/1bd1ia/spj_and_com...
089723645897236 7y ago
This guy uses it tastefully though and its not hard to see why he likes it and he's right. It's highly readable. The people who hate it probably encountered it during Web 1.0 with accompanying Geocities style webdesign. GIFS! Cursor trails! Neon! Ads in technicolor! And double embossed chunky comic sans links and tables in too many colors because you just could. Web 1.0 was crazy and I miss it.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
gatherhunterer 7y ago
I love progressive death metal. I love that the songs are loud and visceral, then soft and nuanced. I love the complexity and technicality. But I don’t play it on the speakers in my thinly-walled apartment, nor do I play it out loud in public spaces like work, the library or city streets. As much as I enjoy it I understand that it demands focus in a way that can be very obnoxious and unenjoyable for others. People don’t dislike the author’s taste, they dislike being subjected to it. Get over yourself and use a less obnoxious font when distributing your work.
kd3 7y ago
All laws made by government should use this typeface.
dougk16 7y ago
If anyone's interested, I wrote a blog post on some purely technical reasons that Comic Sans is probably not a good idea, at least for a website. This is coming from someone who really tried to make it work, but my hand was finally forced. https://aytwit.com/blog/goodbye_comic_sans https://aytwit.com/blog/goodbye_comic_sans
ozzmotik 7y ago
I'm surprised I haven't seen a mention of Vsauce's "A defense of comic sans" video: https://youtu.be/GUCcObwIsOs https://youtu.be/GUCcObwIsOs

23 points by miobrien 7y ago

I like Comic Sans when I see super smart people, like physicists as an example, use it in presentations. Makes me think of Feynman and all his crazy antics. Maybe there always needs to be irreverent time. Human feature. Use it. I do not mind. Never did. It also makes me think of Mrs what's her name long ago in primary school. She opened my eyes to the wonder of the world and the many peoples in it. Someone would have done that, I am sure. It is the how she did it. Was with a laugh, like "can you believe this place we are in?" I treasure that vibe. Matters.

jszymborski 7y ago
We could always tell in my courses when a lecturer was a Physician Researcher depending on whether or not their slides had a Yellow/White/Red text on a blue-to-dark-blue gradient background. It was eerie how common it was, despite the clinicians coming from different hospitals/universities/backgrounds.
mark-r 7y ago
Yes, Comic Sans is irreverent. That's both its appeal and its curse. It's very easy to be overexposed to it.
- ddingus 7y ago
  Late reply, I know but I was thinking about this some. I always try hard to meet people where they are, if I am able. I am generally interested in their thoughts. Getting at those is easiest when one sets other things aside. Spelling, grammar, style, etc... An example might be little kids. Or someone foreign. In both cases, the norms are borked up, lots of little, expected things, and sometimes bigger things do not play out by rule, or in unexpected ways. Overexposure is one of those little things. I may not even notice when those thoughts are compelling. How often have we, in general here as people, snuffed out a promising bud of thought or had an impression be discordant with the actual, flat out missed or botched an opportunity to benefit, perhaps mutually? Me? Many times to the point of just opening up some. Fewer expectations and assumptions both tend to maximize communication potential. There are few downsides. Like I said above, I don't mind. Have in the past. Do not now. Maybe the one downside is I tend to not raise the bar when I probably should at times. Not sure it is worth it now however. This does tend to be self selecting too. Sometimes it is just a lot of work to converse with people much more focused and demanding of these things. Before doing it these days, I will qualify it more than I have in the past. At least the payoff is more consistent.
ljm 7y ago
Not that I’m calling myself super smart, because spending so much time commenting on forums about things I don’t know that much about probably means I’m not, but Comic Sans is my goto font for pretty much all my presentations. Comic sans and well placed gifs. It’s part of the charm for me, and I use it as a self-confidence boost and a reminder that life doesn’t have to be so serious, because now I can inject some humour into a talk and I have to own that well enough to keep a straight face while delivering the material. Especially in your typical office set up, it’s quite cathartic, and I genuinely enjoy showing people that you don’t have to be so perfect. I have a lot of respect for people who can bring a bit of lightness to what can otherwise be quite dull day. We are all human after all. As an example, I think Gary Bernhardt is great with this. The Wat talk is a classic.
- ddingus 7y ago
  I agree with you and articulated my sentiment with coarse precision. I share your respect. There has to be a better way to say it, but people using comic sans for this vibe, who could easily pull off something else gets at it.
yiyus 7y ago
> I like Comic Sans when I see super smart people, like physicists as an example, use it in presentations. I still remember that very interesting presentation by Fabiola Gianotti when they presented the results that proved the existence of the Higgs Boson. In Comic Sans.
- ddingus 7y ago
  That one was notable. I remember it too.

the_enigma 7y ago

Please remove this paid content! PS: what's your reason for rudely flagging me! PSPS you faggot

daveslash 7y ago

I've heard that it is actually a really great font for people who suffer from dyslexia. Also, obligatory link (some language, but otherwise sfw) https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole

ntw1103 7y ago
I have dyslexia, and I can attest that I find it easier/quicker to read than some other fonts.
eddieh 7y ago
This gets repeated over and over, but if you look at the literature, empirical studies are split between _may_ slightly help to no observable difference. Where things get interesting are studies that take into account letter spacing, they show that Comic Sans spacing may somewhat help. Still, if you apply the same spacing to a regular font, accuracy increases about the same. The accuracy increase is so minimal that it probably presents no practical advantage AFAICT.

karmakaze 7y ago

The only knock on Comic Sans was people thinking/using it as Tekton which is a different target demographic.

earthboundkid 7y ago

Hating Comic Sans is lame and old. Hating Lobster is new and hip.

Grollicus 7y ago
Are you talking about lobste.rs or are you talking about this font? https://www.dafont.com/lobster.font https://www.dafont.com/lobster.font Where is it used?
- hybrids 7y ago
  They're referring to the font, yes. Lots of people used it in the post-Web 2.0 era because it has a "distinctive" look, which naturally lent itself to fatigue. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lobster-font https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lobster-font https://web.archive.org/web/20180213181648/http://5in5nyc.com/2012/05/31/dear-startups-lobster-is-the-new-comic-sans/ https://web.archive.org/web/20180213181648/http://5in5nyc.co...
JohnFen 7y ago
I've never hated Comic Sans, and still don't. But there's no question in my mind that it was overused, and -- worse -- often used inappropriately.
jhanschoo 7y ago
In-between, after Apple bundled Zapfino making it accessible, and before Google Fonts made Lobster accessible, it was Zapfino that was abused everywhere.
stallmanite 7y ago
I have always hated Times New Roman. I am alone in the world.

janitor61 7y ago

Is there a monospaced Comic Sans I can use in my IDE?

Naac 7y ago
https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/tabular-type-foundry/comic-code/ https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/tabular-type-foundry/comic-cod...

cwkoss 7y ago

I find comic sans much harder to speed-read than other fonts. The trope of "comic sans is bad" has become an overused meme, but it is rooted in truth in my opinion. To me, declaring that you like Comic Sans is like declaring that you like the Kardashians. Doesn't mean you're a bad person, but it certainly calls your taste into question.

mark-r 7y ago
"comic sans is bad" may be an overused meme, but not as bad as comic sans itself.
- yiyus 7y ago
  The position of the font's author looks very reasonable to me (from the article): > If you love Comic Sans you don't know much about typography. And if you hate it, you need a new hobby.
  - mark-r 7y ago
    I don't hate Comic Sans, just sort of dislike it intensely. And yes I do need a new hobby.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

jwilk 7y ago

Archived copy: https://archive.is/2SqY9 https://archive.is/2SqY9

LeoNatan25 7y ago

Click the reader button of your browser to be able to read this text. :-P

KingMachiavelli 7y ago

Luckily, due to whatever fonts I have installed (linux), I sadly cannot see the comic sans version.

ben509 7y ago

After a while I wondered if he'd ever actually defend it, but he does: > Comic Sans, I have learned, is also a typeface favored by the British Dyslexia Association... > I like the spaciousness it allows between letters. > I can see an entire sentence in it as I can in no other typeface. > I feel it provides a clarity for me as a writer that is helpful in revising my writing — and revising, it has been noted, is what writing is really all about. If I were writing this kind of defense on another subject, it'd go like this: > In defense of spoons: > I find that I have to butter my toast with them slowly and carefully. > I feel that as I'm carving a turkey, the bluntness helps me take my time and the spoon is quite good at breaking the joints apart. It seems like a sane defense of Comic Sans is that it's great for lettering comics and short, playful announcements. If you're dyslexic and don't have a proper font like OpenDyslexic, it's useful there, too. Not all fonts need to be as universal as Helvetica.

yiyus 7y ago
> It seems like a sane defense of Comic Sans is that it's great for lettering comics A comic typed in Comic Sans has the same problems of a novel in Comic Sans or an advertisement in Comic Sans. Unless it is done on purpose in some sarcastic way, it's perceived as a sign of low quality and bad design. Actually, most professional comics use custom fonts, and choosing the type face is a relatively common topic of discussion between comic authors and editors.
atoav 7y ago
The criticism on Comic Sans consists of two factions: - Designers who often critizise weird usage of the font (e.g. it is great for a birthday party invitation and bad for a stern warning inholving serious danger) - people who misread that criticism, hop onto a bandwaggon of their own making and say the font is bad as a whole, because it is not “serious” Anybody knoes that papyrus font? This had a similar story, with sometimes absurd usages.
- ricc 7y ago
  I’m probably one of those who use the Papyrus font a tad too often when I was in high school...

spraak 7y ago

My wife homeschool's our daughter (which I add to the context for that it shows she wouldn't have already been exposed to Comic Sans from public school) and one day my wife decided to switch some of the worksheets she created for our daughter to use Comic Sans. Our daughter was really excited about the change and said that now they're "more fun and easier to read, it seems more like a kid made this".

yiyus 7y ago
> it seems more like a kid made this Your daughter is very right. That's why it is not the most appropriate font for a legal letter from an attorney, for example.

lostgame 7y ago

I immediately said ‘that’s not Comic Sans’, and then read the first line, which states that on iOS it’s Marker Felt.

dwohnitmok 7y ago

One of the big Haskell luminaries, Simon Peyton Jones, exclusively uses Comic Sans in his presentation slides. This talk has more: https://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/1bd1ia/spj_and_comic_sans/ https://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/1bd1ia/spj_and_com...

089723645897236 7y ago

This guy uses it tastefully though and its not hard to see why he likes it and he's right. It's highly readable. The people who hate it probably encountered it during Web 1.0 with accompanying Geocities style webdesign. GIFS! Cursor trails! Neon! Ads in technicolor! And double embossed chunky comic sans links and tables in too many colors because you just could. Web 1.0 was crazy and I miss it.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

gatherhunterer 7y ago

I love progressive death metal. I love that the songs are loud and visceral, then soft and nuanced. I love the complexity and technicality. But I don’t play it on the speakers in my thinly-walled apartment, nor do I play it out loud in public spaces like work, the library or city streets. As much as I enjoy it I understand that it demands focus in a way that can be very obnoxious and unenjoyable for others. People don’t dislike the author’s taste, they dislike being subjected to it. Get over yourself and use a less obnoxious font when distributing your work.

kd3 7y ago

All laws made by government should use this typeface.

dougk16 7y ago

If anyone's interested, I wrote a blog post on some purely technical reasons that Comic Sans is probably not a good idea, at least for a website. This is coming from someone who really tried to make it work, but my hand was finally forced. https://aytwit.com/blog/goodbye_comic_sans https://aytwit.com/blog/goodbye_comic_sans

ozzmotik 7y ago

I'm surprised I haven't seen a mention of Vsauce's "A defense of comic sans" video: https://youtu.be/GUCcObwIsOs https://youtu.be/GUCcObwIsOs