"Taking bad typography to extremes" - via SwissMiss.
For some unbeknown reason educators feel obliged to spread this 'orrible font around PowerPoints, worksheets and wall displays under the guise that 'it's the clearest font for kids to read'. My eye it is.
Now just stop it... now.
Oh thanks for sharing .... it gave me a much needed laugh this evening! It is everywhere! The T-shirt needs a big red circle with a cross through it!
Posted by: Jody Hayes | March 28, 2007 at 08:43 AM
The reason I used Comic Sans in the (infant) classroom was because it's one of the few fonts that has the letter "a" in a similar form to the way we were trying to teach the kids to write it.
But that's just the infant classroom. It's a pity it gets spread around as the default "educators'" font!
Posted by: Mark Berthelemy | March 28, 2007 at 09:12 AM
It's commonly used in post 16 SLDD too, and hence into Skills for Life. I remember having a heated conversation with a colleague who insisted I was letting my learners down by not using Comic Sans. I like to use it occasionally, for effect, but used by default I find it patronising. Verdana and Tahoma work well for dyslexic readers and are widely available in addition to Arial.
Posted by: Chris Jackson | March 28, 2007 at 09:24 AM
Agreed, Ewan - it's 'orrible!
Posted by: John Connell | March 28, 2007 at 09:39 AM
bad font, though I had heard that it was preferred by children, and so it says here:
http://psychology.wichita.edu/hci/projects/UPAfontchildrenpaper.pdf
However, I'd rather supplement Comic Sans for something classier at all times, for reasons of taste.
http://bancomicsans.com/
Posted by: Peter | March 28, 2007 at 12:44 PM
I agree absolutely, it's horrible! I like the t-shirt though. Where can I get one?
Posted by: Gordon McKinlay | March 28, 2007 at 03:50 PM
where there's a will, there's a way - sign up and join the revolution! (or something like that... http://bancomicsans.com/home.html)
Posted by: AB | March 28, 2007 at 05:05 PM
Thank you thank you. I hate it.
Posted by: Adam Sutcliffe | March 28, 2007 at 10:33 PM
Font snobbery? What's next? (Arial is BORING, by the way, and Times aspires to achieve boring status someday.)
Posted by: Randy Rodgers | March 29, 2007 at 05:26 AM
Ah, Randy, font snobbery is as old as the earth itself. There are whole websites dedicated to it. Why? Because it's fun, it's to do with design and in design everyone has their own ideas of what's cool. And did I say this was for fun? ;-)
Posted by: Ewan McIntosh | March 29, 2007 at 06:36 AM
I've noticed that in looking at the variety of Learning Platforms for schools on the BECTA framework that some companies seem to think that by changing to this font and making the size larger it automatically makes the product a Primary one - isn't it more about the functionality?
Posted by: Keith Havercroft | March 29, 2007 at 07:19 AM
Thank you; it's so ugly. Beauty and clarity are hardly mutually exclusive.
Posted by: John | March 29, 2007 at 10:45 AM
So weird - the C of Comic actually HAS a serif on it on the T shirt too - so it isn't a Sans Serif Font anyway!!
Posted by: Jude Brown | March 29, 2007 at 08:51 PM
So what font do you like then. Times New Roman is soooooo boring
Posted by: Carolyn | March 29, 2007 at 11:51 PM
Someone I work with uses this all the time. I hate that font.
Posted by: Jim | March 30, 2007 at 03:18 AM
Well, nuts to the lot of you. I like it.
Posted by: Douglas Blane | March 30, 2007 at 10:39 AM
Agreed, I like Comic Sans to use in my classroom but its wildly overused! How about using "Chalkboard" lol!!! (its basically the same!!)
Posted by: Rachel | April 04, 2007 at 07:26 AM
Comic Sans is very overused
Posted by: Dacey | April 06, 2007 at 04:51 AM
I get undergraduate essays to mark in it.
Posted by: Mel Rimmer | April 21, 2007 at 08:10 AM