Sure, I laugh when I see Comic Sans, tilt my head at the appearance of Papyrus, and don’t really care where I see Helvetica. But, I have to wonder, aren’t there times when the typeface scapegoats of the design world are appropriate to use?
Design history is so unforgiving to typefaces. Think of Cooper Black, Times New Roman, or Avant Garde. I am not suggesting that we all pity the poor fools, but as designers, we can do something about the stigma. (Other than avoiding use of these typefaces at all costs.) We have a voice within our field, and maybe the only people who care about the naivete of Comic Sans are within our field.
I suggest refreshing the exhausted typefaces into new fonts (some of which may already exist). Can we find a use for Comic Sans small caps or Comic Sans Ultra Light? The use of Times New Roman small caps surprised me because it looked professional, yet strangely familiar. Perhaps new fonts and weights could update these stale typefaces.
P.S. Don’t alter letterforms in Adobe Illustrator and use them in client work. AIGA notes that it is infringement.
2 Comments
I’m glad you included the P.S. I just completed an assignment for my typography class in which I altered letterforms in Illustrator to create “expressive words” by creating outlines of my text and making dramatic adjustments. While I love what I created, I’m glad you pointed out that this is considered infringement. I definitely won’t be doing that outside of class!
I’m with you on this.
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