The Defenders of Comic Sans

Mike Rankin

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Comic Sans. Two words that can strike fear and loathing into the hearts and minds of many creatives. Though like anything so universal and loud, the bashing of Comic Sans was probably bound to spawn a backlash at some point, and sites have sprung up around the internet to defend the indefensible font.

Or, more likely, the disdain for Comic Sans has evolved into something more witty, and folks are having some fun with it. In any case, the defenders of Comic Sans are well worth a look.

For starters, take “The Comic Sans Song”, which defies explanation, but is sure to put a smile on your face, no matter how much you love or hate the font.

A Parisian group called We Are Cephalization has created a tumblr blog called The Comic Sans Project. Their manifesto is to, “…MAKE THE WHOLE WORLD COMIC SANS BECAUSE HELVETICA IS SOOO 2011.” To that end, the blog features many well-known logos redone to use Comic Sans.

Even Microsoft seems to be in on the joke, as they still host the Comic Sans Cafe, “the Comic Sans type specimen and information resource,” which was last updated in 1997. There you can read background information on the font written by its designer Vincent Connare, and learn how the font was designed for use in cartoon/comic book speech balloons (and not the myriad other places where it has been inappropriately used).

Then there’s this video from The Onion, that explores just why Comic Sans has been so overused: because it’s the funniest font ever created.

New Study Explains Why Comic Sans Font So Hilarious (Season 1: Ep 8 on IFC)

Finally, if you just can’t get enough Comic Sans, check out the Flickr group pool. Sure, it’s intended to showcase stunningly inappropriate uses of the font, but after a while, you may find that it grows on you…or not.