Helvetica, Comic Sans and Papyrus… Which one?

If you were to write a short cover letter for your summer internship on campus, what font would you choose?

 

Arial?

Times New Roman?

Helvetica?

Comic Sans?

Papyrus (below is the Papyrus typeface)?:

  

 

Of course, if you weren’t in our Types of Art class, you wouldn’t really know the difference except for Times New Roman which you will most likely be choosing because it’s familiar to you. While taking this course however, I started to notice the key features of typefaces and wondered about why some of the typeface designs were more popular than others.

For example, Helvetica is one of the most popular typefaces while Comic Sans is the opposite in terms of its reputation. As a used-to-be-a-fan of Comic Sans back in my days when I used it for almost any document from my birthday invitation cards to my short essay submission, I decided to research what features of these typefaces appeal or appall to the audience.

 

Helvetica

 

 

Helvetica was released in 1957 and a lot say that marketing is what made Helvetica the Helvetica it is now; it was designed right at the right time. Helvetica took inspirations from old typeface designs but was new and refreshing. A lot of other typefaces took a similar approach by creating a modern look from the existing typefaces in the past, but they did not stand a chance in terms of marketing. Helvetica was very heavily marketed; its name was changed from ‘Neue Haas Grotesk’ to the much memorable name ‘Helvetica’.

In terms of its design, its simplicity is what made it impactful. As the nature of advertising in the 60s took its turn and people became tired of traditional and classical illustrations and script typefaces, Helvetica’s clear and modern yet having not much deviation from the old script made it look more neutral and bolder to replace it. Not only has the typeface made its way successful in marketing, but it was also released at the right time when there were cultural shifts and development in forms of advertisements.

Nowadays, we see Helvetica almost everywhere as it is the core typeface used by Apple. It became the symbol of typographic excellence to the point many graphic designers find Helvetica to be at the top of the typeface hierarchy. This is well supported by the phrase ‘When in doubt, use Helvetica’.

In other words, the popularity of Helvetica arose from its coincidental release during the cultural shift and its marketing strategy and not really from its design specifically.

 

Comic Sans

 

 

It hurts a little that I am writing about one of my favorite fonts. It reminds me so much of my childhood especially because I used that font in both my Korean IT class back in primary school and in my middle school IT class in Malaysia. Comic Sans to me is like a flipbook of my childhood. It looks like a neat handwriting, inoffensive and warm.

Back when Comic Sans was first designed by Vincent Connare to be incorporated in the speech bubbles of an animated cartoon dog for Microsoft Windows, he did not realize the amount of attention it would bring. He even stated himself that Comic Sans was developed for younger users and not for everyone. Unexpectedly, the typeface began to be used everywhere from formal documents, on signs, in advertisements and billboards until two typographers started a ‘Ban Comic Sans’ movement in 2002.

 

 

 

Moreover, unlike Helvetica which its design wasn’t the main reason for its popularity, Comic sans actually lack in the design features compared to many other typefaces. For example, its angular consistency and kerning is all different resulting in no cohesive flows. The typeface is now used in ‘memes’ and because it is often associated with such culture of making fun of the use of Comic Sans, not many people want to associate with it.

 

+Papyrus

 

 

Papyrus was designed by an illustrator Chris Costello who was paid 750 pounds in 1983 for the design. In one of his interviews, he said that he was inspired by the Middle East and biblical times. He sold the font to a British company that works with vinyl lettering shapes until the company began licensing its fonts for use in desktop applications.

Similarly to Comic Sans, Papyrus is hated due to its misuse and overuse. This took away the originality and the effectiveness of the design. One example of its popular use was in James Cameron’s Avatar and on May 23^rd2017, Julio Torres from SNL tweeted:

This post received more than 2100 retweets and 8700 likes in less than six months.

 

I learned that a lot of typefaces that appall to the audience are the ones that are misused and overused. They don’t follow the traditional rules and disciplines in designing typefaces which bother a lot of type designers and people.

I think it was interesting to learn through my research that designing typefaces is indeed a tough process which requires subtlety, practice, observation and discipline. I have learned to appreciate the typefaces and I cannot stop but to wonder why someone chose to use certain typeface for their posters on our campus elevators and on TV shows. Typeface plays such an important role in the tone it sets and the message it carries, like a balloon giving shape to helium; I am excited to experiment what kerning, proportion, angle and scale play in the first impression of a typeface in the upcoming workshops.