Group Presentation: Ban Comic Sans

Group Members: Charlotte Low, Cheong Yu Ting, Ng Xuan Fei, Nur Mariyah


(click on thumbnails to view presentation slides)


History of Comic Sans

  • It was created by Microsoft designer Vincent Connare in October 1994.
  • Microsoft Bob was a program designed to make computers more accessible to children.
  • When Connare saw a beta version of Microsoft Bob that used Times New Roman in the word balloons of cartoon characters, he felt that the result was a formal look inappropriate for a program intended to introduce younger users to computers. “That’s wrong! I like comic books. I have comic books. They don’t talk in Times New Roman.”
  • Connare had already created child-oriented fonts for various applications before
  • His decision was to create a new face based on the lettering style of comic books he had in his office, specifically The Dark Knight Returns (lettered by John Costanza) and Watchmen (lettered by Dave Gibbons) as well as the artwork he saw in the ’80s in New York’s SoHo galleries.
  • He drew letters manually with a mouse over and over again to get something that resembled the raw handwritten speech like that in comic books.

Comic Sans was never meant to be used for a font that is commonly used. It was merely a perfect solution for a corporate agency.

  • People choose Comic Sans because it is loose and friendly. People don’t know how to use type. Type in the past used to be a mere way to show a text. Eventually, people realised the way text is being shown in a font affects the meaning it wants to portray.


Interesting Facts

  • The main designer at Twitter tweeted that the most server space is used by complaints about: first, airlines; second, Comic Sans; and third, Justin Bieber. So not even The Bieber can beat Comic Sans!
  • “I was having trouble changing my broadband to Sky so wrote them a letter in Comic Sans, saying how disappointed I was. I got a £10 refund.” – Vincent Connare, creator of Comic Sans.
  • Part of the reason Comic Sans is so unappealing in a professional setting is its irregularity. Unlike most typefaces, letters such as the “b” and the “d” are not mirror images. For most people, that means it is also more difficult to read. For people with dyslexia, the situation is completely reversed. Irregular letters actually facilitate reading, since the characters are easier to tell apart from one another. Today, several national dyslexia associations list Comic Sans as a recommended font.
  • Connare had to defend Comic Sans to his boss at Microsoft, but once released, it took off.
  • As well as Comic Sans, Vincent Connare is the creator of Trebuchet, Wingdings and the now iconic Ministry of Sound logo.
  • When you Google “most hated font, Comic Sans’ Wikipedia page comes up.
  • Holly Combs, the founder of Ban Comic Sans, told the Guardian that using the font is like “turning up to a black-tie event in a clown costume.” Combs even started a petition to have it banned from Google applications. Savage!
  • The Vatican used Comic Sans in a 60-page photobook for Pope Benedict XVI. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on Comic Sans, it is difficult to go against papal infallibility i.e. a dogma of the Catholic Church that states that the Pope is preserved from possibility of ‘error’ in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter. The more you know…

 


Collaterals we had

 

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