Fonts play a vital role in graphic design. They set the tone and mood of a design and impact how easy and enjoyable a design is to interact with. However, not all fonts are created equal. There are some notoriously hated fonts that send most designers running for the hills. Comic Sans still claims the top spot as the world’s most hated font according to graphic designers.
Why Do Designers Hate Comic Sans?
Comic Sans bursts onto the scene in 1994 and was created by Vincent Connare for Microsoft. It was designed to resemble the style of fonts used in comic books and graphic novels. The intent was to create a casual and fun font. However, it quickly became a punchline and the Internet’s preferred font to make fun of.
Graphic designers dislike Comic Sans for several reasons:
Poor Legibility
The wonky, uneven weighting and shapes of the letterforms in Comic Sans make it difficult to read. The spacing is inconsistent, letters like “a” and “g” are hard to decipher, lowercase “L’s” and uppercase “i’s” often look identical. Overall, words blend together into a visually jumbled mess rather than create clear definition.
Overused and Used Incorrectly
Comic Sans gained popularity outside of its intended use and began popping up on all kinds of professional or formal documents where it didn’t belong. No font deserves this type of misuse. It increased designers’ disdain.
Amateur Aesthetic
The informal, sloppy look and feel carry an inherent amateurish visual quality like a homemade sign written by a child. This gives any design an unprofessional look that designers avoid.
Lack of Versatility
With its narrow utility and distraction filled forms, Comic Sans doesn’t pair well with other fonts. Its style stands out awkwardly no matter the context. It’s also nearly impossible to use elegantly or in a visually refined way.
Overall Tackiness
Comic Sans evokes cringe rather than admiration from most graphic designers. Its clumsy forms and amateur style are visually unappealing and undermine polished, thoughtful design aesthetics.
What Other Fonts Do Graphic Designers Dislike?
While Comic Sans still sits atop the most hated font list, many other fonts also draw designers’ ire and mockery. These other maligned fonts include:
Papyrus
Ransom Note
Brush Script
American Typewriter
Souvenir
Papyrus saw some popularity thanks to its use in the Avatar movie logo. However, many designers criticize the uneven stroke weights and haphazard letter spacing as poorly executed faux calligraphy. It often comes across like it’s trying too hard to be elegant or handwritten.
Ransom Note consists entirely of letters that look like they were physically cut out from other sources and pasted together to form words you know, like a kidnapper does when making ransom note demands from magazines and newspapers in the movies. It’s meant to look experimental and edgy in reality it just looks very broken and dysfunctional.
Brush Script tries to emulate fancy handlettering but instead looks amorphous and undecipherable like it was painted with an worn brush by a shaky hand. The result is misshapen letters that clash instead of connect.
American Typewriter attempts to capture vintage typewriter aesthetics with its monospaced and mechanical looking letterforms. However, its thick chunky shapes and uneven weighting make reading it a vision straining chore. Text set in American Typewriter risks evoking typewriter issues like dropped letters and jammed arms.
Souvenir demonstrates extreme thick and thin strokes that vary wildly from letter to letter. So a lowercase “n” looks nothing like a lowercase “h”. This disjointed style disrupts reading flow and comprehension. Overall it has an outdated 1970’s look as well.
Current Favorite Fonts for Designers
If the most disliked fonts feature messy, dysfunctional styles, it follows that designers’ favorite fonts display harmony and elegance. Clean lines, uniform weight distribution, simple timeless letterforms, versatility, and strong personality are hallmarks of beloved fonts.
In 2024, graphic designers name the following as their current stand out favorites:
Splatfont
GT America
Shiska
Nord
Baskervville
Splatfont combines the energetic vibe of comic book action words like “POW!” and “BAM!” with an angular yet friendly typestyle. Its distinctive inline palette and Chromatic Black option provide versatility across many contexts. (https://www.splatfonts.com)
GT America revives 19th century wood type broadsides with a simplified solid, industrial aesthetic. Inspired by vintage Americana, its sharp wedge serifs and condensed letterforms project a stylish retro worker vibe. (https://grillitype.com/typefaces/gt-america)
Shiska delivers an artfully uneven hand brushed look that manages to still feel cohesive and harmonious due to strategic irregularity in composition. It brings controlled chaotic energy and powerful stroke contrast. (https://sharptype.co/typefaces/shiska)
Nord projects stoic strength and bold directness thanks to its thick, wide letterforms grounded by sturdy serifs. Inspired by ancient runic scripts, Nord feels steady, monumental and ancestral. (https://nordtype.com)
Baskervville from Colophon Foundry masterfully references the iconic transitional serifs and graceful thinning curves of eighteenth-century Baskerville. It celebrates this lineage while carving out its own contemporary voice with flared terminals and a larger x-height.(https://www.colophon-foundry.org/typefaces/baskerville)
These designer favorites showcase how far font design has progressed the past 30 years. Typographers now regularly push boundaries and expand possibilities each year breathing new life into the elements and principles refined in traditional Punchcutter type.
Why Does Comic Sans Endure As the Most Hated?
Comic Sans endures so stubbornly as the most despised font because amateur designers continue leveraging it inappropriately across both print and digital design. It remains prevalent on office memos, restaurant menus, signage, websites and more. Professional designers also habitually pass it down as the quintessential bad font in design schools everywhere.
However, Comic Sans loves to play up its notoriety. It even joyfully hosts an annual “Comic Sans Day” on the first Friday of July as a cheeky celebration of itself. So this font remains both famous and infamous simultaneously with no signs of relinquishing its unusual status anytime soon.
Conclusion
In the ever expanding typographic landscape full of new stylish, inventive fonts every year, how does innocuous unassuming Comic Sans maintain its grip on the title of “Most Hated Font”? Simple. It earnestly tries to spread playfulness via its clumsy, distracting forms constructed more for irony than elegance or clarity. But this amateur attempt at casual amusement mostly triggers immense frustration and disdain from designers trained to value harmony and meaning.
Comic Sans screams for childlike joy but whispers crippling disunity. And when used rampantly out of context, its presence swells rather than shrinks ensuring graphic designers everywhere keep sharpening their figurative axes ready to chop it down for good someday. Alas, the battle continues as it merrily reaches its 30th birthday leaving chaos in its wake. Yet, redemption may come if we rewrite the narrative framing Comic Sans not as an ugly duckling but rather the jester of fonts best used sparingly to spreadPlayful dissent before returning promptly to the depths from whence it came. Only time will tell if we collectively rebrand Comic Sans from reckless amateur to thoughtful rebel and champion of humor. For now, it stubbornly endures at the top of designers’ hate lists as almost a badge of honor. Here’s to you Comic Sans may you one day inspire more smiles than scowls from frustrated designers!
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Comic Sans so hated by designers?
Its clumsy, uneven letterforms and spacing make it hard to read. Plus its casual amateur style looks unprofessional and out of place when used incorrectly across formal or official design projects.
When was Comic Sans font created?
It launched in 1994 and was designed by Vincent Connare for Microsoft. The intent was to create a casual, informal font that felt like comic book lettering.
What are other famously hated fonts?
Papyrus, Ransom Note, Brush Script, American Typewriter and Souvenir rate as other reviled fonts designers name as frustrating to work with or visually unappealing.
