Comic Sans [was: Re: Text Line Length}

At 11:02 AM 1/27/2001, Cecelia Dirksen wrote:
>I'm not a designer, but a *mere* marketer!
>Could someone please explain to me what is so offensive about Comic
>Sans. I've heard it before, but I can't quite figure out why.
>As well, if clients insist that designers use it, and designers insist
>it isn't *good*, perhaps there is a need for someone to come up with a
>new font. One that provides the friendliness of Comic Sans and fulfills
>the requirements of a designer. Personally, I'd love to see one.

Well, personally, I have two chief complaints about it. The first I 
addressed in my earlier reply to the Captain: it is overused in many 
circles on "home grown" sites and thus has come to be associated with 
amateur sites and design to many.

The second I figured out while thinking through the issue over a sink full 
of dishes after my last post (I really need to get a life, ya know?). The 
font is a "comics" font...it's designed to be casual...something you'd see 
on the Funnies Page of your Sunday paper. The name says it all, doesn't it? 
The Sunday Comics are not necessarily the image I usually want for the 
sites I produce. It isn't just that the font is overused by many on casual 
of fluff sites. The font itself is not designed to be something 
professional looking.

AND it's overused. ;)

I try to stick with generic sorts of fonts because frankly, other than the 
occasional freak like myself who actually can name off fonts on sight (you 
should hear some of the conversations my best friend and I have about 
fonts...we don't even discuss men in such detail [see above comment about 
needing a life]) I don't want people to NOTICE my fonts. I pick something 
to use for title graphics that suites the client, their business, and the 
audience we're after. But the body copy should be, IMO, as unobtrusive as 
possible. I don't want the average user to have an conscious thought about 
the font they see when the come into a site I've designed, and I certainly 
wouldn't want to give them any sort of impression about the type of content 
they're about to find based my (or a client's) choice of font. The purpose 
of the site is to convey information about a client/product. Part (all?) of 
design is making the information available to those who desire it in a 
manner that the RECEIVE it. They need to be able to find the info they are 
after, they need to be able to navigate the site with ease, it needs to 
function in their browser, and they need to be able to read it. My design 
is to make those things happen in the least obtrusive manner, and I 
certainly don't want people focusing on the design of the site when they 
are surfing it.

Just a couple more cents' worth from the silly girl in the corner. Now I 
wonder what I'll think about while I vacuum?

Jeniffer
OffLead Productions

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