Fonts that should die, preferably by stabbing

Working with designers, and being friends with designers for the last many years, I have become something of a font snob.

It’s ironic, because in my medium, one can’t step outside of the “Arial, Helvetica, Sans-serif” or “Times New Roman, Georgia, serif” ghetto without resorting to images or very fancy flash-based tricks. (Or just doing the whole thing in Flash, which is a separate travesty unto itself.)

So it is with great amusement that I find this run-down of the 7 Wost Fonts via Charles.

Of course, Comic Sans is number one since it is overused in the most inappropriate of circumstances. As Sean Gleeson* has pointed out in the past, there’s nothing wrong with Comic Sans per se. It’s a great font for, say, comic books. Not so great for, say, anything else. Fun Fact: In doing the research for this entry, Comic Sans was on EVERY, “Fonts that should never, ever, ever, seriously, ever be used again” list.

Angi points out that Comic Sans features the “a” that children have learned to write, so she likes to use it for Bible class materials. Angi would also like to point out that I’m rude.

Also on this list, Papyrus. My general rule about Papyrus is, “If it’s not about the Old Testament and/or Egypt, don’t use Papyrus.” Maybe it’s just me.

Not in the list of 7, but definitely on my personal hit list, you will find:

1.) Mistral
Yeah, it looks kewl. Yes, it’s on your computer. But its coolness cachet has been depleted by its use on
a.) Daycare flyers
b.) Signs in bathrooms advising what can and can not be flushed down the toilet
c.) Every 6th-grade collage ever created
d.) Everything else.
Please do not use it. Not even to promote your band.

2.) Times New Roman (No image needed) Of course, Times New Roman is a wonderfully readable font in print. And it’s not ugly at all. It’s just the default font in MS Word, so it’s everywhere. Also, screen resolution is too low to allow serifs to improve readabiliity, so they just clutter up your page. Don’t use Times New Roman online if you can avoid it. Let’s give this hard-working font a well-deserved vacation. May I suggest a variation of Goudy instead?

3.) Copperplate Gothic. Last, and certainly least is a font that has garnered far too little online opprobrium. It’s EVERYWHERE. Copperplate Gothic is a poor imitation of actual copper plate printing. It’s ALL CAPS and features ridiculously small serifs that don’t scale at all. Find examples of the horrible overuse of this mediocre typeface here.

Tangentially, I recently saw Chicago used on one of those pre-movie PowerPoint-ish ads. Alarmed, I looked around, and no, I had not been transported back to 1989.
* -

I thought Sean had posted a defense of Comic Sans with a history of the font, but alas, I can’t find it.

Chaz found it, so the link now works. Thanks Chaz!

See also:
More complaints about Papyrus.
Typobituaries from Daniel Mall.
Five overused fonts.
A font primer from Church Marketing Sucks.

UPDATE: Julie Neidlinger has weighed in on Comic Sans and other things YOU SHOULD NEVER DO WITH YOUR COMPUTER.

I should also add that typeface selection is aesthetic, so by definition it is subjective. Some people sniff at Arial, that web workhorse. They prefer, nay, insist on Verdana or Helvetica. Will Harris suggests MISTRAL instead of Zapf Chancery! So, to each his or her own.

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