Why we love to hate Comic Sans, and the return of fonts with personality.

Season 4, Episode 6

Comic Sans is a font many of us love to hate. People groaned when they realized they could change the caption styling on Disney Plus to Comic Sans — and also when, last year, Instagram Stories introduced a font that looked suspiciously like it. But why does a font that’s been around for more than 25 years still get under our skin, and incite such a visceral response?

In this episode of Wireframe, Khoi Vinh, Senior Director of Design at Adobe, explores the enduring impact of Comic Sans, the personalities of common typefaces like Helvetica, Calibri, and Garamond, and how some font designs today are evolving to become even more expressive. The team also examines how modern typography offers more variety — and how the next generation of independent type designers are incorporating a bit more humanity, personality, and purpose into their work to create fonts that speak to both the present and future.

Featured in this episode

Emma Tucker is a Comic Sans apologist. She’s a senior writer and deputy editor at Creative Review, and believes there’s a time and a place for this font — though she’s noticing how that “time and place” has become more subversive and cynical than before.

Stephen Coles is a major expert on type. He’s the co-publisher of Fonts in Use and Typographica, and the editorial director of Letterform Archive. He discusses the rise of Comic Sans, and follows up with an argument for why design is ready to embrace more expressive fonts.

Then, two rising independent type designers introduce us to a pair of fonts that embrace expression in very personal ways. Tré Seals, the founder of Vocal Type, tells us how he made his Martin font, and its connection to the American Civil Rights era. Lynne Yun of Space Type Continuum introduces us to her “earthy and bold” font Ampersandist. Both designers explain how they find creative reward, and liberty, in type design.

Other fonts mentioned in this episode: Times New Roman, Impact, Arial, Comic Sans, Calibri, Garamond, Windsor, Cooper Black, and Roboto.

Listen to the podcast to hear the story, and click here to read a full transcript of this episode.