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'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 shipped 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. 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

History

Criticism

Notable usages

References

See also

External links

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.

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.
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.
In his defense, Connare claims, that it was not originally designed as a typeface, but as a solution to the problem of finding lettering suitable for the packaging of children’s software, although the distinction between 'typeface' and 'lettering' in this context is somewhat obscure.
The typeface is both clear to read and similar to simple handwriting, it is therefore often used in materials for Adult Basic Literacy classes and also in ESOL/ESL classes for students with basic literacy needs.

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'' and ''Sonic Adventure 2 Battle''.

★ It is used to display text in the Xbox 360 game ''Viva Piñata''.

★ It is used in the current Portugal national basketball team uniform.

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.

See also

★ Kristen (typeface)

★ Core fonts for the Web

★ Chalkboard

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

★ Critique of Comic Sans

★ Comical Euri Shop

★ Comic Sans Flickr group