5 ms·

KLM is celebrating Comic Sans day today (NL only)

74 points by dutchbrit 13y ago

LinaLauneBaer 13y ago
It seems to be "organized" by a radio station. This radio station is organizing a Comic Sans day and KLM joined the Comic Sans day. In addition to using Comnic Sans KLM is also giving away tickets to Paris and back to the NL for people whose name is C. Sans. Neat idea... http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.klm.com/travel/nl_nl/index.htm%26biw%3D934%26bih%3D730&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=nl&u=http://nieuws.klm.com/ook-comicsansdag-bij-klm/&usg=ALkJrhg1EX3-sCG5-1Eonuu_PAwZe-L0Ug http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&h...
- y0ast 13y ago
  This is the radio station: http://www.3fm.nl/ http://www.3fm.nl/ and their website is also fully in Comic Sans
netrus 13y ago
Love it. It's what every big company can learn from Google's doodle: A little bit of non-conformity/strangeness makes the biggest giant appear humane.
- talles 13y ago
  Couldn't agree more.
- Osmium 13y ago
  Honestly, as awful as Comic Sans is, it really does make their homepage look more friendly. Considering how complicated some airline bookings can be, I don't think that's a bad thing.
- maurits 13y ago
  As the proverbial nerd I can appreciate this, but as a paying customer I am not amused. In my view, a company can joke and take on a more friendship-like role, but only if their core business is flawless. How funny would the google doodle be if the search results were below par that day? Experiences may vary, but I buy tickets a number of times a year directly from the KLM site (I have to), and the process never fails to be mildly infuriating. 404's, timeouts, random vague errors, lost bookings, being logged out, not being able to check in for unknown reasons, having to fill out an identical form numerous times, there is always something. Personally, I would have focused on some of the more boring yet fundamental issues of the site.
bartkappenburg 13y ago
I'm really curious how this will affect their conversion. I'm betting that the traffic from people who want to take a look (because of this comic sans day) isn't that good and people who didn't hear about it will maybe convert worse.
- danieldk 13y ago
  On the other hand, if you are not Dutch (or perhaps West-European), you may not have heard of KLM before. And now you do. Of course, with your username the probability is near one that you already knew them ;).
ronjouch 13y ago
Mandatory link to the epic "I’m Comic Sans, Asshole." published on McSweeney's: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole A fine day for Comic Sans to say "Enough of this bullshit. I’m gonna go get hammered with Papyrus." Happy Comic Sans Day everybody!
- solaris999 13y ago
  You can calm down, there's a cure: http://www.comicsanscriminal.com/ http://www.comicsanscriminal.com/
- jermy 13y ago
  Also mandatory link to 'So you need a typeface' flowchart: http://julianhansen.com/ http://julianhansen.com/
- tanzam75 13y ago
  European designers seem to enjoy tweaking the noses of font snobs. IKEA and Verdana being the classic example.
marklit 13y ago
This might be a feature rather than a drawback of the iPad but the Comic Sans font isn't rendering in Chrome.
mfwoods 13y ago
They're also giving away free tickets to Paris for anyone who can prove they're named C. Sans. I don't think that's a very popular surname in The Netherlands.
- pdw 13y ago
  In 2007, there were 43 people named "Sans". http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_lcnaam=sans&gba_naam=Sans&nfd_naam=Sans&operator=eq&taal= http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_lcnaam=s...
  - mfwoods 13y ago
    I wonder how many of them have a first name starting with a C and saw this contest. I'm guessing none.
sp8 13y ago
This is OT but Ghostery blocked 20 different tracking scripts on that page. I've never seen such a huge list from one site!
- zorbo 13y ago
  Strange. I see only one blocked, and I've got everything blocked and auto-update turned on. I think your ghostery may be malfuctioning, because a cursory glance at the resources doesn't reveal much out of the ordinary.

74 points by dutchbrit 13y ago

It seems to be "organized" by a radio station. This radio station is organizing a Comic Sans day and KLM joined the Comic Sans day. In addition to using Comnic Sans KLM is also giving away tickets to Paris and back to the NL for people whose name is C. Sans. Neat idea... http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.klm.com/travel/nl_nl/index.htm%26biw%3D934%26bih%3D730&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=nl&u=http://nieuws.klm.com/ook-comicsansdag-bij-klm/&usg=ALkJrhg1EX3-sCG5-1Eonuu_PAwZe-L0Ug http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&h...

y0ast 13y ago
This is the radio station: http://www.3fm.nl/ http://www.3fm.nl/ and their website is also fully in Comic Sans

netrus 13y ago

Love it. It's what every big company can learn from Google's doodle: A little bit of non-conformity/strangeness makes the biggest giant appear humane.

talles 13y ago
Couldn't agree more.
Osmium 13y ago
Honestly, as awful as Comic Sans is, it really does make their homepage look more friendly. Considering how complicated some airline bookings can be, I don't think that's a bad thing.
maurits 13y ago
As the proverbial nerd I can appreciate this, but as a paying customer I am not amused. In my view, a company can joke and take on a more friendship-like role, but only if their core business is flawless. How funny would the google doodle be if the search results were below par that day? Experiences may vary, but I buy tickets a number of times a year directly from the KLM site (I have to), and the process never fails to be mildly infuriating. 404's, timeouts, random vague errors, lost bookings, being logged out, not being able to check in for unknown reasons, having to fill out an identical form numerous times, there is always something. Personally, I would have focused on some of the more boring yet fundamental issues of the site.

bartkappenburg 13y ago

I'm really curious how this will affect their conversion. I'm betting that the traffic from people who want to take a look (because of this comic sans day) isn't that good and people who didn't hear about it will maybe convert worse.

danieldk 13y ago
On the other hand, if you are not Dutch (or perhaps West-European), you may not have heard of KLM before. And now you do. Of course, with your username the probability is near one that you already knew them ;).

ronjouch 13y ago

Mandatory link to the epic "I’m Comic Sans, Asshole." published on McSweeney's: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole A fine day for Comic Sans to say "Enough of this bullshit. I’m gonna go get hammered with Papyrus." Happy Comic Sans Day everybody!

solaris999 13y ago
You can calm down, there's a cure: http://www.comicsanscriminal.com/ http://www.comicsanscriminal.com/
jermy 13y ago
Also mandatory link to 'So you need a typeface' flowchart: http://julianhansen.com/ http://julianhansen.com/
tanzam75 13y ago
European designers seem to enjoy tweaking the noses of font snobs. IKEA and Verdana being the classic example.

marklit 13y ago

This might be a feature rather than a drawback of the iPad but the Comic Sans font isn't rendering in Chrome.

mfwoods 13y ago

They're also giving away free tickets to Paris for anyone who can prove they're named C. Sans. I don't think that's a very popular surname in The Netherlands.

pdw 13y ago
In 2007, there were 43 people named "Sans". http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_lcnaam=sans&gba_naam=Sans&nfd_naam=Sans&operator=eq&taal= http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_lcnaam=s...
- mfwoods 13y ago
  I wonder how many of them have a first name starting with a C and saw this contest. I'm guessing none.

sp8 13y ago

This is OT but Ghostery blocked 20 different tracking scripts on that page. I've never seen such a huge list from one site!

zorbo 13y ago
Strange. I see only one blocked, and I've got everything blocked and auto-update turned on. I think your ghostery may be malfuctioning, because a cursory glance at the resources doesn't reveal much out of the ordinary.