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Publication: The Lawrentian, , Lawrence University, Appleton, WI
The world of typography and graphic design loves to hate Comic Sans. Initially developed for Microsoft in 1994 by Vincent Connare, the kitschy nature of the font that has made it so notorious was actually intentional. As illustration digitized along with plain text, there was a hole to be filled when it came to system fonts to accompany different art styles. Visually, a doodle character simply couldn’t be accompanied by a speech bubble filled with exclamations in Times New Roman. Enter Comic Sans. Unsurprisingly adapted from the typical print found in comic books, with particular reference to The Dark Night Rises, the font did just what it needed to.
Thirty years ago, Comic Sans took off. People were suddenly spoiled for choice when it came to the typesetting of their emails and Christmas cards — and everyone loved the playful Comic Sans. What Connare once described as “wonky” was a cheery and familiar imitation of handwriting in felt-tip pen, and suddenly it was everywhere.
As graphic design became a formal area of study, the font’s ubiquity...