In this edited extract from Thou Shall Not Use Comic Sans: 365 graphic design commandments Tony Seddon discusses the relative merits (or not) of using Comic Sans. 

Thou shall not use Comic Sans

Well, we had to put it in, didn’t we? Comic Sans is arguably the most inappropriately used typeface in history after its first appearance in 1995. It was designed for Microsoft a year earlier by Vincent Connare (who incidentally is very philosophical about his notoriety among type fans) to supply user-friendly menus for people who were a bit scared of computers. When it was included as one of the font choices in Windows 95, it took off faster than a speeding bullet. Everyone with a PC and the notion they could do ‘graphic design’ started using it on their home-grown letterheads, party invites, curriculum vitaes, shop signs, haulage firm truck-sides and, well, you get the picture.

Comic Sans wasn’t designed to do all these things, so why did everyone like it so much? Connare himself thinks people like to use it because ‘it’s not like a typeface’. Ouch! What better reason can there be to not use Comic Sans?

Thou shall use Comic Sans ironically

Did I just say you shouldn’t use Comic Sans? Well, I was only kidding. One of the great things about typefaces that become vilified due to inappropriate application or overuse is they gain a platform from which they can be used to portray irony, sarcasm, satire, dry wittedness, and so on. If you’ve got a dispiriting message that you want to make light of, for instance ‘Turning 46 next week and really happy about it – party on!’, Comic Sans might just be the typeface of choice. The problem here is, unless everyone you’re inviting to your birthday bash is a graphic designer, they won’t get it. Using type ironically can be very effective and indeed great fun, but only if the irony isn’t wasted.

Therefore, think carefully before you decide to use Comic Sans, or Childs Play, or Dot Matrix, or Bullets Dingbats, or any other novelty typeface for any project that requires anyone to work out why you chose the type in the first place. If the joke isn’t immediately transparent, you should probably have gone for Times New Roman instead. Ha ha – do you get it? No? 

Thou Shall Not Use Comic Sans: 365 graphic design commandments by Sean Adams, Peter Dawson, John Foster and Tony Seddon is published by NewSouth.