Comic Sans

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Typeface	Comic Sans MS
Category	Script (typefaces)
Designer(s)	Vincent Connare
Foundry	Microsoft

Comic Sans is a casual script typeface designed by Vincent Connare and released in 1994 by the Microsoft Corporation. It is classified as a casual, non-connecting script, and was designed to imitate comic book lettering, for casual use in informal documents. The typeface has been supplied with Microsoft Windows since the introduction of Windows 95, initially as a supplemental font in the Windows Plus Pack. It has since become one of the most widely-used Windows system fonts.^{[citation needed]} Comic Sans is used in both print and webcomics as a substitute for hand-lettering, although many comic artists prefer to use custom-designed computer fonts instead.

Contents 1 History 2 Criticism 3 Anti–Comic Sans movement 4 Notable usages 5 Notes 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] History

Microsoft designer Vincent Connare says that he began work on Comic Sans in October of 1994. Connare had already created a number of child-oriented fonts for various applications, so when he saw a beta version of Microsoft Bob that used Times New Roman in the word balloons of cartoon characters, he decided to create a new face based on the lettering style of comic books he had in his office. He completed the face too late for inclusion in MS Bob, but the programmers of Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, which also used cartoon guides and speech bubbles, picked it up. The speech eventually became true voice, but Comic Sans stayed for the program’s pop-up windows and help sections. The typeface later shipped with the Windows 95 Plus! Pack. It then became a standard font for the OEM version of Windows 95. Finally, the font became one of the default fonts for Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The font is also used in Microsoft Comic Chat, which was released in 1996 with Internet Explorer 3.0.

[edit] Criticism

Comic Sans has become the subject of a campaign by some designers to limit or eliminate its use, on the grounds that (as typographic purists claim) it is poorly designed and that its inclusion in the Microsoft system fonts package lends itself to inappropriate use—for example, as a text face in documents or at large sizes in signage.^{[citation needed]}

Some typeface designers say that the typeface is poorly drawn, virtually equal weight being given to the downstrokes and horizontals, and little thought given to the kerning between character pairs, eliminating any of the informal characteristics of true hand-drawn lettering.^{[citation needed]}

In his defense, Connare claims that it was not originally designed as a general typeface, but as a solution to the problem of finding lettering suitable for the packaging of children's software.

[edit] Anti–Comic Sans movement

The Boston Phoenix reported that the campaign started when two Indianapolis graphic designers, Dave and Holly Combs, started the Ban Comic Sans Web site after seeing widespread misuse of the font.^{[citation needed]}

After Snog Blog's interview with Vincent Connare, Dave Combs confessed in the comments that he had used images from Connare's site without permission, for the purpose of making merchandises to fund a Vincent Connare Scholarship Fund.^{[citation needed]} Vincent Connare did not give permission to use his image because the campaign did not live up to Dave Comb's claim in the email.^{[citation needed]} Afterwards, Dave Combs confessed that the whole campaign was a joke, inspired by Shepard Fairey's Obey Giant, and adapted concepts from the sites blowthedotoutyourass.com (which is now a porn site) and http://citizensfortruth.org.^{[citation needed]}

The Combs' site also reported the Ontario New Democratic Party included the clause 'Ban the font known as Comic Sans' in its recent omnibus ban bill, proposed at the 2005 session of Ontario Model Parliament in Canada. However, the message was signed under 'NDP Against Comic Sans', leading to doubts of the validity of the claim. Further investigation revealed it was from a youth model parliament.^[1]

[edit] Notable usages

• It was used as the font for the text inside the tags of Beanie Babies.
• It is the font used for the house style of UCI Cinema literature and publicity.
• It is used for the description on Hershey's chocolate bars.
• It is used in The Sims for text in text boxes.
• It is used in the liner notes of the CD reissues of The Savage Rose albums.
• It is used for the subtitles and the majority of other text in the video games Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Super Mario Sunshine.
• It is used to display text in the Xbox 360 game Viva Piñata.
• It is used in the current Portugal national basketball team uniform.
• It was used for the description on the back of the DVD case for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
• It is used for the sign on Brandy's doghouse in Hamtaro.
• It was the subject of much hostility for the characters in an Achewood comic.^[2]
• The font was used in 2004 Canada Day 25-cent collector coin.^[3]
• It was used in Sin City dialogue texts.
• It is often used in Adult Literacy Education and ESOL/ESL for Students with Dyslexia [1][2]
• It was used as Angela's font in Lauren Myracle's novels ttyl, ttfn, and l8r, g8r.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Connare, Vincent. “Comic Sans Background Information.” Comic Sans Café.
• Connare, Vincent. “Why Comic Sans?”
• Macmillan, Neil,. An A–Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press: 2006. ISBN 0-300-11151-7.

[edit] See also

• Chalkboard (typeface)
• Kristen (typeface)
• Core fonts for the Web

[edit] External links

• Comic Sans MS font information (Microsoft typography)
• Typowiki: Comic Sans
• Comic Sans Café (Microsoft typography)
• Downloadable version of Comic Sans MS for Windows (Core fonts for the Web)
• Ban Comic Sans campaign
• Comic Sans is Dead April Fools
• Critique of Comic Sans
• NOT FUNNY Fighting the good fight against a very bad font
• Snog Blog: The Vincent Connare Interview
• Comic Sans | Font for the masses or weed of the graphic world?
• Comic Sans Appreciation Society
• Why Ban Comic Sans? An interview with Dave Combs of Bancomicsans.com in Earz Magazine
• Comic Sans Flickr group