Yesterday saw a landmark moment in science, history and indeed, evolution. CERN scientists, who have been working for years at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, claimed the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs Boson.
The news spread like wildfire and soundbites like "we're reaching into the fabric of the Universe at a level we've never done before" were issued to all that would listen. However, one of the biggest reactions to the breakthrough was nothing to do with the feats of science achieved, but the way it was presented to the world - more specifically, the font which was used to present the findings.
Of all the thousands of fonts available to convey such a critical milestone, the scientists plumped for the Marmite of typography - Comic Sans. Within minutes of the news breaking "Comic Sans" was trending on Twitter, with the majority of tweeters expressing their disgust at such an important announcement being conveyed in such a way.
While Comic Sans does have its fans and naysayers, the reaction did raise an important point. It truly demonstrated how fonts are crucial tools in evoking emotion and sentiment. Often taken for granted, as they are all around us, there are around 200,000 fonts in existence today.
However, you should bear in mind that each one has been meticulously designed and crafted to convey a message. Indeed, selecting a font is quite like getting dressed. If you had a specific occasion to attend, you would dress accordingly. Similarly, a font is normally selected in accordance with the kind of message you wish to communicate.
Type is also a key player in instilling trust among the public. Imagine you were to receive an email or message on your phone, which claimed to be from your bank - for the sake of argument, let's say HSBC. Ask yourself, if the message didn't contain the black lettering of HSBC on the white background, would you not question its legitimacy? It's the very reason that typography remains such a crucial part of branding and why there is still a demand today for type designers' skills.
Type designers are some of the most patient, but proudest artists in the world today. Not even taking into account the need for originality due to the sheer volume of fonts around, the skill and determination required to elicit emotion, simply from text, is a huge accomplishment. What I believe is amazing is how, when the industry has existed for centuries, there are these incredible designers from all corners of the globe, who continue to innovate and create new typefaces, which still generate reactions.
And I believe that a key driver to do so is that the public have and continue to relate to typography, even though they maybe don't realise it. We've all had the experience of a certain scent reminding you of a fond memory. The same applies with typography - certain fonts trigger certain emotions and memories - and this is why there has been such a reaction to CERN's choice of font.
Comic Sans may often be heralded as the 'world's most hated font', but it does have its place. It may not be in a presentation which reveals the secrets of the universe, or within the corridors of a Fortune 500 company, as this picture demonstrates, but one thing is for sure. It has conjured a huge reaction and that is testament to the power of typography.
Robert Urquhart: CERN Higgs Boson V Comic Sans Debacle
In Latin scripts around 80% of info is carried in the upper third of the letter, whereas in cursive Arabic it is more like 60%, so skimming and scanning Arabic the eye moves slightly lower into the text which means that clarity of detail in the mid third is crucial. (I vaguely recall).
Now to your blog:
Postmodernity has a streak of cowardly anti-intellectualism going down one of its backs. Buffoonery and mischief are the companions of this foolishness Comic Sans uits. The idiocracy know themselves.
Late modernity is ever and always Deco and that means Helvetica. Clean fantasies of reductionism and an ordered universe. But it fel apart when Georg Lukács said, ''You folk reify everything. Get a grip.''
High modernity is Roman/Times/Schoolbook for its classicism which crashed when empires fell in the trenches of WWW1.
But I still cannot read a book in sans serif.
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Graphic designers all think they're so cool, because they can zazz up some writing to make it look modern and trendy. They usually come dressed in the latest "approved of" fashion labels - they're just fashionistas really.
You know the intrinsic trouble with fashion? It goes out of fashion.
Universal truths don't do that.
So if they think they're qualified to sneer at people who've just unlocked one of the secrets of existence just because they have a subscription to Digital Arts Magazine, that's a big fail on the failure-o-meter.
Graphic designers just concern themselves with how the letters look. Quite often they are tempted to branch out from worrying about the style of the lettering into writing their own copy, and when that happens the results are usually about as horrific as watching someone accidentally guillotine their own finger off.
I know of a big design house whose team of designers spent three days making a fabulous rolling, tumbling, all-characters animated end-card for a video presentation for their own company, and it was one of their clients who had to point out to them that they'd got their own phone number wrong.
Im not a specialist in font design, but as an editor and production manager I participated in the design and selection of fonts for several securities companies. I understand your points about branding and conveying a "mood". You could almost psychoanalyze a company based on the fonts they choose. The stuck-in-the-mud Times New Roman used for years at Salomon Brothers was a fine reflection of a company that never changed. The Lucida that DeutcheBank used gave graphics a less-imposing feel, and the custom-made fonts used by Societe Generale (particularly when offset against their Comic font-based Logo) is so frustratingly French.
However, I also discovered that there are major differences in how different people react to different fonts. Personally I love reading old books, just for the elaborate feel of the fonts - reading a page written in some highly decorative gothic font like Encient German Gothic is pleasurable, but I know a lot of people who would balk at reading a single line.
I suspect that the "mathematical", "theoretical", "big-picture" type people at CERN are attracted to a relaxed, simple and non-linear type of font. It is a bit silly for people to be criticising them based on the font they used for their Powerpoint slides. I agree with Ellie (above) that font-snobbery seems to be misplaced here. If anything, it highlights their lack of concern for appearances, whereas the people criticising them seem to value form over substance.
The scientist doesn't have to be good at selecting professional nice-looking fonts. He is a nuclear physicist. Didn't Einstein wear the same clothes every day so he wouldn't have to decide on an outfit? I'm sure I read that once.