Why You Hate Comic Sans -- Comic Sans Hate

130K views · 15 years ago · explainer · evergreen

David Kadavy's short presentation on why designers and others hate Comic Sans. He looks at the typeface's origins, including how it came from an era of low-resolution, unsmoothed screens where it read well.

HN people include it in reading lists for developers learning design and cite its explanation of why Comic Sans made sense on early low-res displays.

3 comments from Hacker News

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@Dekku2013 · in “Why You Hate Comic Sans”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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@MrMike2011 · in “My apps look ugly as sin. How do I improve my design skill?”
I just compiled a list of reading (and watching) materials for this yesterday. Here you go: link (great overview of the major design aspects - nearly 1hr) link ▶ this video link 18min link link link (free)
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@cedrichurst2012 · in “Comic Sans Criminal”
Comic Sans also comes from a pre anti-aliasing era in personal computing. If you viewed it on a 640x480 display with no aliasing, it's actually slightly more readable than other fonts like Times New Roman. See about 3:50 into this presentation: ▶ this video