To loathe Comic Sans with a passion!

[ComposHat]

I had to go into a local primary school last week and the first thing that struck me was the absolute dominance of Comic Sans.. it was everywhere! From the school sign, to labels and signs, every single one of them in this most loathsome of fonts???? It doesn't say 'fun and friendly' to me, it says 'ugly and inelegant.'

My dad (ex primary school teacher) uses it on emails and it drives me mad! I have to convert the text into another font before I can read the thing.

He even sends off relatively formal letters in this type (I've tried explaining that it is like writing a formal letter with a wax crayon, but he pays no heed.)

He's not the only one, when I worked for social services, 'return tpo court' letters (quite a big deal) were sent out in comic sans and a letting agent recently sent out a form for me in Comic sans - it looked child-like and amateurish and I'm having second thoughts about using them.

There's no need for it, even the most basic version of Windows has lots of beautiful fonts to use at the mere click of a mouse, yet people insist on using Comic Sans

Grrrr!

[Moominsarehippos]

Gill Sans is a nice, clean, smooth face.

[theodorakisses]

I know it is used at my husbands school because it is the easiest for EAL pupils (all his are) but if an adult uses it I think it should be renamed passive aggressive sans.

[ZillionChocolate]

Good call Moominsarehippos. I'll see if I have/can install it.

[TheBigJessie]

I have Microsoft Word 2010 (32 bit) and I have gill sans. I generally use Cambria, because when I type, that one seems to already be selected. I mostly can't tell the difference between fonts, unless you give me a batch of samples, with exactly the same phrase, only in different fonts.

I can't even see a difference between calibri and cambria when I do that though.

[aufaniae]

You're certainly not alone. Comic Sans is widely hated!

IIRC it's the only standard font on Word which uses an "a" formed as you would write it, not as it's usually typed IISWIM? (e.g. the "a" here )
Perhaps this is part of the reason people use it in schools?

Gill Sans is a nice looking, clean font, designed in the 20s and widely used by organisations such as British Rail and the BBC over the years.

Eric Gill who designed it was not a nice man however. By his own admission (but not known publicly till 1989) he sexually abused his children and had an incestuous relationship with his sister.

Puts me off using it

(Did you know fonts could be so controversial?!)

[piprabbit]

I like KG what the teacher wants font for child-friendly stuff.

I try to avoid comic sans, not because I have a problem with it but because I know it may annoy the reader.

[ComposHat]

I was aware of Eric Gill's child abuse and (getting his dog to sodomise him!) but have managed to disassociate the art from the artist. His statues are on the outside of Broadcasting House, which given the BBC's problems over Jimmy Saville is somewhat ironic.

I love the perfectly rounded O in Gill Sans. I wanted to submit my PhD in Gill Sans, but my supervisor claims that he finds it hard going to read (philistine!) so I am having to think again.

Current favourite is Arial Bold 12pt for titles and Century Schoolbook 11pt for the body text. Any other suggestions gratefully received.

At the risk of being a pedant, BBC and the old school Penguin Book covers use Gill Sans, but BR used their own typeface (Railtype) and London Underground use Johnston. Johnston does look very much like Gill Sans, but is even more beautiful. The lower case 'i' and 'j' use a diamond for a dot.

[WMittens]

HollyBerryBush

"I do ralise that this now makes me sound like some technogeek that actually knows different fonts"

Not that much - the majority of people who have used a word processor will know the main fonts. If you want geeky, a friend's brother did his dissertation on Helvetica.

ThreeBeeOneGee

"If there were more free fonts that matched handwritten letter formation, then it wouldn't need to be so ubiquitous."

I found hundreds recently when looking for suitable fonts for faux signatures for emailed letters.

[Moominsarehippos]

Didn't Gill also do the sculptures on the big grey building on the Thames (I forget the one)?

Most typefaces have something quite distinctive - a curve or flourish (usually an R tail or little loop on the a, gs too). You get to know which is which when you work with them a lot. We used to have very heated fights arguments in the studio over such things.

One thing I especially dislike is when someone tries to throw every font in the package at one page, in various sizes and colours.

[SorrelForbes]

Moominsarehippos. I used to work in the graphics field back in the 90s. Scalpels and low tack tape were my friends.

I often have nostalgic twangs over letraset Helvetica.

My favourite typeface is Johnson.

[AngiBolen]

I used comic sans when writing a letter to DC's teacher recently.

I somehow thought I was more likely to get through to her if I spoke in her font.

[ComposHat]

'Spoke in her font' that made me laugh, but not enough to forgive you for using the dreaded Comic Sans!

[GoofyIsACow]

An estate agent local to me uses comic sans on all his literature, he is 'fun'

[Moominsarehippos]

What was the name of the really famour London Underground designer in the 1950s? Eric somebody? My memory is dreadful these days! He was pals with my old typography tutor. I like the face they use.

I hate fonts that look like handwriting (supposedly) because of the uniformity - some have 2 'a's for example but it just doesn't look right.

And Gills dog... I thought it was the other way around. My mind is boggling about this now (reaches for brain bleach)!

[Moominsarehippos]

I had many a cut with the scalpels (even a couple of stitches to reattach a large piece of finger). I used to love manual colour mark up. Very theraputic!

[Moominsarehippos]

Did you ever use an old compositing machine (bell, star, oh bugger)?

[SingSongMummy]

I've always loved Century Gothic, it's a fine, clear typeface!

Hate Comic Sans too.

[SorrelForbes]

I have a scar on the top of my foot from a scalpel. I managed to knock it off the edge of my drawing board. Two stitches and a lot of blood.

[TiggyD]

It's used because it's closest to normal writing on lots of computers. It's your problem, get over it.

[TartinaTiara]

I'll confess to not hating Comic Sans in its place (ie, not in everyday life) and can see why it's used in schools for the fact that the formation of the lower case "a" is similar to that used in handwriting, but the italic form of some of the more sensible fonts - Ariel and Calibri certainly, and I think Gill Sans too - have this feature, without making people's eyeballs itch.

And yes, anyone who uses Curlz as an everyday form of communication should be taken to a place of execution and hanged by the neck. Or at least spoken to sharply.

[SorrelForbes]

I used to use those machines which use the plastic rolls to make letters of various heights. I used the smaller machines for printing out text to stick on tracing paper which was then photopied and burnt onto acetate to make vu-graphs (am old).

[Moominsarehippos]

I remember making acetates! I learned how to at college. I have also cleaned out some lovely (antique) printers.

Sticking by eye was so accutare - not sure I could do it these days though! I used to be able to letraset huge amounts of copy only by eye and it would be spot on. I used to lob bits off to personalise it.

[aufaniae]

ComposHat I stand corrected! That was some good pedantry :)

[aufaniae]

(And ewwwwwww to the bestiality!)

[ComposHat]

Tiara I tihnk that is my real beef, the widespread misuse of Comic Sans rather than its mere existence.