Most hated fonts
There are a number of typefaces that are disliked by many people, often for a variety of reasons.
- Some simply dislike the look of a particular font. Sometimes their loathing focuses on just a few characters of the entire typeface. Sometimes it is one particular variant that irks them.
- Familiarity breads contempt: any typeface that becomes popular risks being reviled sooner or later, at least by designers who have to stare at them all day. This explains why some of the fonts that get mentioned on this page also appear in the list of 100 best fonts.
- Most people seem to hate any font that gets grossly overused or that appears a lot in the wrong type of jobs. Abuse typically seems to happen with the default fonts that ship with operating systems.
Below are the worst fonts according to a November 2008 poll on this site. The list starts with the undisputed leader, the most hated font in the world. I have included quotes from various web pages.
“The AOL of fonts”
“Comic Sans is the dirt bastard of the design world.”
“An e-mail written in this font makes the sender seem ridiculous and out of touch.”
“I honestly think when I see Comic Sans that the person has a lower than average intelligence level.”
“It’s not that it’s a terrible font – it’s rather that it suits non-designers far better than those with a sense of the aesthetic would like.”
“So 1950′s”
“Arial is little more than a shameless impostor.’”
“Arial’s ubiquity is not due to its beauty. It’s actually rather homely.”
If you’re working in a medium where you’re not restricted to certain fonts, and you’re considering using Arial – don’t.”
“Arial is the poster child for the general typographic decline of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.“
“Very corny and boring”
“I just avoid when I can.”
“It’s simply bad, ugly and makes me nervous when I see it.”
“I cannot look at Times New Roman without automatically assuming that it is a placeholder font, waiting to be replaced by something appropriate for the text.“
“Brush Script is a useful tool for identifying morons. It is the typeface equivalent of the backwards worn baseball cap.”
“dull, unimaginative, plain”
“Courier always reminds me of sending a job to the printer and forgetting to include the fonts.”
“Papyrus: The official cool font for those who know nothing about typography.”
“I was an early user of Papyrus. I used it a lot for a long time. These days I hate it just like the rest of you.”
“When I visited my brother in South Dakota last year, nearly every billboard or pamphlet at the Rushmore Memorial Center used Comic Sans or Papyrus…. Ugh, barf.”
“I’m branding myself with this font. My website has to be in Papyrus! The text and everything!”
“I hate Helvetica. It is everywhere. No more Helvetica please!!!!! It is sooooooo boring.”
“I have never used it because of its stiff and kind of aseptic character.”
“Helvetica is the Bluejeans-Sans Serif for the daily worker.”
Other fonts that get on some people’s nerves include Avant Garde, Curlz MT, DIN, Hobo, ITC Garamond, Optima and Souvenir.
A special mention should go to freeware fonts in general. There are beautifully designed typefaces that you can download for free but there is also a lot of crap with incomplete character sets or badly drawn glyphs.
Of course a careless designer can make any text or typeface appear bad.
“There are no bad typefaces, just bad designers”
“Hello, my name is David and I am a font abuser…”
“The fonts aren’t the problem, it’s the idiots using them badly that make us all cringe”
If you’re interested in other pages about unpopular fonts, try the one on America’s most fonted or this rant about 5 terrible fonts. Last but not least, there are fonts from hell. Techmeme also has an interesting forum post about unpopular fonts such as Comic Sans. To finish off here is one of Wondermark‘s beautiful cartoons on the subject.
Then what are we supposed to type in?
There are thousands of typefaces. More are created every day, and you can only think to choose Seven typefaces?
Helvetica grew on me once I outgrew my initial rebellion, having this font forced on me by government agencies as the official font for signage. I now consider it to be elegant and simple. I appreciate its’ almost Scandinavian work ethic.
snobs xD
hating something is a sign of fear and non-understanding…
I disagree with font-hating
… and I disagree with that point of view. It is good that there are people that dislike or even hate some typefaces. That means that typography is important enough for them to have certain sentiments about it. For every font they hate, there is also one that they like. If there were no unpopular fonts, there also wouldn’t be any popular ones. Typography would be irrelevant because nobody cared.
Hate is good because it also implies the existence of love.
The only one I disagree with is Helvetica. Helvetica is fine. But Arial? UGH! I can see no reason to use Brush Script ever. Courier can serve a purpose when used right. I have hated that awful Papyrus from the first day I laid eyes on it. Comic Sans? rofl. That’s why it’s called comic sans — it’s only good for use in comic strips.
I still disagree with font hating. Every font has it’s beauty and could be used on different occasions.
You don’t have to hate certain fonts to love typography.
I found another interesting anecdote about ‘Comic Sans’ abuse: “My grandmother’s philosophy teacher and close friend recently died, and because I had met her once when I was younger, she told me about the funeral. Then she handed me the eulogy…
…it was written in Comic Sans.
Of all the inappropriate uses of this font that I’ve been confronted to, this was the worst. Who the fuck ever thought it’d be a good idea to have a funeral eulogy in a font whose name features the word comic?!?”
The moment you see Comic Sans on a site, you see the work of a moron.
Whoever wrote that about Brush Script and doesn’t know how to use it. Same with Courier. And that could be said about almost any font, color, layout, or idea that someone doesn’t like — it’s just a matter of understanding it as a designer and knowing its context. Except for Arial. Arial just sucks. Maybe it could be used effectively in an ugly pageant. Okay, and Comic Sans ruins anything it touches. I did say “almost” any font…
What much of this shows is simply a lack of perspective. Yes, they can be abused, but “boring” is never a valid excuse unless you’re in marketing. Typography has three basic roles in a font – making it readable, making it appropriate, and making it effective. A script, to borrow an example from above, doesn’t need to capture the attention of passing motorists, it needs to be read. To complain that it’s boring is like complaining that the extras in your movie aren’t getting top billing.
No lives have been lost to papyrus use, and these “hated” fonts are, if anything, the most popular and successful of all fonts.
I like the Tech font but it seems it is no longer available in the standard offering with Word. What happened to it and where can I find it?
Papyrus looks kind of cool but I’ve never come across an appropriate use for it. Times isn’t that bad, it’s just WAY overused. Also, using script/handwriting fonts in general opens up a “Pandora’s box” of Internet compatibility issues. However, I disagree with all the negativity towards Arial. I personally find it very legible and tasteful. It sure makes for a refreshing break in body text from tightly-packed serif fonts like Times Roman.
Well, I am going gout on a limb here defending my business choice to introduce little one’s to individual letters via Times Roman. As I tested different fonts at 325 pts. it seemed to have the most classic shape to each upper case letterform and all except the W and Q fit comfortably into a square. So my chidrens’ alphabet is illustrated to Times Roman. I would love to hear suggestions please for a fashion alphabet and a dancer’s font?
What’s more important than looking good is to be readable. Here a lot of “script” typefaces fails, and Courier gets heavily tiresome. (Is that why internet “read 14 pages then click yes to continue” licence agreements are in Courier – if the language doesn’t bore you away, maybe the typeface will?)
Times may lack a bit of fantasy, but it is comfortable to read.
And when you manage to write in a way that people can read, you ought to think of what to use their attention for.
But if you do have something well thought to say, THEN it’s time to choose the typeface that gives the right finish. In some cases it actually might be Comic sense…
Very interesting read for a non-designer. I’m a screenwriter by trade, and Courier is the default font for scripts (I’ve always found it boring!) By “default” I mean that you look like a rank amateur if you use anything else — interesting that such an ugly type is the industry standard!
Beauty is, and always will be, in the eye of the beholder. Fanaticism (for or against anything) is the sign of a narrow mind. Oh! I’m so distressed! I cannot find a way to change the font that I am using to respond! It’s so horrible! It has just ruined my day……
the first thing i do when i install windows is to delete comic sans..
the second thing i do is uninstall IE, after i use it to download Chrome xD
In the prepressure.com CSS we find this entry:
body {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, Sans-Serif;
font-size: 12px;
text-align: center;
vertical-align: top;
background: #666 url(images/bg_body.gif);
color: #fff;
}
So the preferred body font for this web site is the second most hated in the list…
Oops
LOL…. but I don’t say on the above page that I personally hate Arial. I only document that a number of people dislike that typeface.
That being said, if I ever get around to updating the design of this site there is a good chance that I will replace Arial by a web font that has a bit more of a distinct look to it.
I’m typing this comment in “Courier New”, and soon – if not moderated and got deleted – will be appeared on the list in “Arial”.
Btw. why would you hate those two typefaces when you are still using it on this website. Isn’t it ironic?
If it weren’t so tragic, I would be amused by signage (or anything else) rendered in all caps in a chancery or other script typeface. Why does anyone allow this to occur? certainly they can’t even read their own handiwork.
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