Laura Walker

November 23, 2016

Tyler Barnum
English 2010
Typography: Why it Matters in Having Good Design
You wake up in the morning one day, and in your stupor you recall that you dont have
work today. You decide on your day off, youre going to treat yourself and go to the mall to get
that movie youve been wanting to buy for some time. When arriving at the mall you wander the
stores glancing at all the stores displays, stopping for a few moments to look at something that
catches your eye, when you suddenly stop. In the windows of two opposing stores display is the
movie you came for! Then you notice in both of the windows, in striking black text are the words
Sale! Everything is 50% off! Your heart jumps in excitement, a sale! But which store should
you go into? Upon closer inspection, both stores are nearly identical, and both of them sell the
movie that you came for. You make the decision to go into the store on the left. You may have
not realized exactly why, but as it turns out your decision laid in your unconscious reaction to the
two signs in the store windows. The sign on the left window was written with the font Helvetica,
the other was written in the font Comic Sans. Most people without even realizing it, discern
information based on how it is presented to them, one of which is the design of the letters we
read. The art of type is known as typography, and it plays a very important role in having good
design. Without being aware of typography, it can damage your, or anyone elses, reputation. You
could write an entire paper with lots of sources, but people could automatically disregard you if
you didnt write it in an appropriate font. Although some would argue that it doesnt matter

which font you choose, I will argue that to have proper authority its important to use a fitting
typeface.
Typography comes from the greek word typos which means mark, figure and grapho,
which means I write. Typography comes in all different types and forms, and serve a variety of
different uses. There are fonts for children, research papers, logos, high school assignments,
books, album covers, companies, and everything that is written down. There are so many
typefaces that serve so many different purposes. Mark Collard, a self-employed typographer said,
Good typography comes from paying attention to tiny details as this can make the difference
between graphic design work that is just acceptable or really good.
Typography has been around for centuries, going back to the time of when books had to
be completely handwritten. During this time the font in books would vary depending on the
person who wrote it. Typography eventually became more standardized when Johann Gutenberg
invented the first printing press in around 1450. His press involved movable type, called
punches, that were created in molds and eventually mass produced and used in a presses all over
the world. One of the first commercially available font created with punches was called
Garamond, created by Claude Garamond, a font we still use today thanks to modern invention of
computers. Since the creation of the personalized computer there are countless fonts that have
been created and are easily accessible to the public to use. Anybody can create their own
birthday cards, brochures, logos and countless of other things. They can create or choose their
own font as they wish. Almost anyone with a computer can essentially be a typographer now.
Though not all people will use fonts correctly. Here is where many people would probably object
that its doesnt really matter what font they use. Thomas Phinney, a professional typographer
gave an analogy about the effects of typography that he commonly gives to his clients, Its like

watching a film: The average movie-goer knows little or nothing about camera movement and
film editing, and rarely consciously notices these things, yet directors can still affect viewers by
using these techniques. While one may not realize it, people will be affected by the type of font
that you use. Typography needs to fit the situation that youre trying to show. Allow me to show
you an example of good and bad typography situations with two very well known and overused
fonts that people have very strong opinions about: Comic Sans and Helvetica.
Comic Sans was created in 1994 when a man named Vincent Connare was working at
Microsoft. He received a beta version of a program for children called Microsoft Bob. Your
guide to using the program was small yellow dog named Rover who sat in the corner of the
screen. Connare was appalled upon, seeing Times New Roman used so inappropriately in the
dogs speech bubbles. He created the font, later known as Comic Sans, based on the comic books
he had in his office in order to give the dog, Rover, a more appropriate font to speak with.
Connare didnt finish Comic Sans in time for the release of Microsoft Bob, but in August 1995
the font was added to the Windows 95 Plus Pack. Eventually it was incorporated into the
Windows 95 system fonts and it still available in current Window and Mac Operating Systems.
Since then, the font has exploded in popularity and has become renowned as one of the most
hated fonts ever created. An entire website was created devoted the cause of banning Comic
Sans. In fact Connare happily reported that ...the main designer at twitter tweeted that the most
server space is used by complaints about: first, airlines; second, Comic Sans; and third, Justin
Bieber. Thats right. The hatred of Comic Sans even trumps Justin Bieber. In an interview with
Connare about the publics reception of his typeface, he remarks,
Regular people who are not typographers or graphic designers choose Comic
Sans because they like it, its as simple as that. Comic Sans isnt complicated,

it isnt sophisticated, it isnt the same old text typeface like in a newspaper. Its
just fun and thats why people like it.
and perhaps thats why its lived on even with the hatred it faces by countless people. Despite
whatever you may feel about about it, Comic Sans isnt really a bad font. As graphic designer
David Kavey said, Comic Sans is not that of a really terrible font, but rather of a mediocre font,
used incorrectly on a massive scale. This was mostly because when Comic Sans was released,
home computers were just beginning to become an affordable option to consumers, and without
any knowledge of how fonts should be used properly, Comic Sans was used for an extremely
broad variety of purposes. Comic Sans was originally designed to give a more friendly feel to a
program for children, and used in that context, it can be one of the best fonts for the job even, but
if its used in the wrong situation, it can cause serious damage to your personal authority. One
such example of such was when LeBron James left his home team of the Cleveland Cavaliers
and the owner of the Cavaliers wrote furiously on social media of the betrayal of LeBron Jamess
departure, in Comic Sans. The message exploded on social media, but not because they agreed or
disagreed with him, it was because his entire message seemed ridiculous and people ridiculed
him on writing it in Comic Sans. In order to use typography properly, you need to be aware how
to use it accurately in the proper situations so you dont look foolish and people take you
seriously. For instance, in the case of this persuasive paper, it shouldnt be used because Comic
Sans doesnt really fit the situation of an academic paper, but a font that could be used is the font
Helvetica.
Helvetica was developed by Max Miedinger with the inspiration of Eduard Hoffmann in
1957 for the Haas Type Foundry in Munchenstein, Switzerland. Hoffman asked Miedinger, a
former employee to create a updated Sans-Serif typeface. Miedinger produced a font called Neue

Haas Grotesk, later renamed Helvetica in order to sell to a worldwide audience. Helveticas name
literally means Switzerland's Font in Latin. Since its debut, Helvetica has been in countless
logos and text by innumerable companies. It has been deemed the worlds most ubiquitous font.
In fact, Helvetica has been used so much, most people dont even notice that its even there,
achieving a new level, that dare say any, typefaces ever reach. Even some of the most popular
brands have Helvetica in their logos: Apple, Sears, Jeep, BMW, Toyota, Target, JCPenney and
countless others use Helvetica. In 2007, a film documentary called, Helvetica was released to
celebrate the fonts 50th anniversary. In the film, typographer Jonathan Hoefler was interviewed,
said conclusively about the font, Helvetica maybe says everything, and thats perhaps part of its
appeal. Helvetica is a very good font, its extremely legible, well known, and accepted. But just
because a font is a good font, it doesnt necessarily make it the best font for the job. A font tells a
lot about what youre trying to present, and not just in context. For instance, Apple uses very few
fonts on its products because they want to show people how simple it is to use an Apple product,
unlike Kmart which uses a large hodge podge of fonts all over their store for no real reason.
Helvetica isnt a very unique font, and it wouldnt be appropriate if you were trying to present
yourself as unique, but it would be fine if your aim was to fit in with other business.
Neither Comic Sans or Helvetica are necessarily bad fonts, but in order to be considered a
good font they need to be used in design properly, and in the correct context. Comic Sans was
meant to be used in speech bubbles for comics, and is supposed to be used in situations that are
more lighthearted and for children. Helvetica was created to be a ubiquitous font that could be
used everywhere. It fits its role exactly, but it has been overused overtime and has almost lost
its identity as a typeface and nearly impossible to identify as unique. Perhaps the those two
stores in the mall should consider changing the typeface on their advertisements.

By being aware of how typefaces should be used in design will give you more credibility
and authority, and not just to the world of design, being able to differentiate the correct situations
that fonts should be used in will make all the difference.

Bibliography
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Collard, Mark. "Typography Matters" Professional Reports RSS. Web. 23 Nov. 2016.
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2007. Film.
Kavey, David. "Why You Hate Comic Sans." Design for Hackers RSS. 25 Jan. 2011. Web. 25
Nov. 2016.
Phinney, Thomas. "How to Explain Why Typography Matters." Communication Arts.
Web. 23 Nov. 2016.
Strizver, Ilene. "The Story Behind Comic Sans." Fonts.com. Web. 2 Nov. 2016.
Sutter, John D. "Cavs Owner's Letter Mocked for Comic Sans Font." CNN. Cable News
Network, 09 July 2010. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
Kibbee, Wallace. "Modern Trends in Typography." The American Journal of Economics and
Sociology 7.2 (1948): 215-20. Web.