I was working on my bookcover last week with my favorite graphic designer, Danielle Bardgette, and she helped me find fonts that would fit the feeling I wanted to convey with my book.
Today I wanted to make you laugh, so I give you:
TRUE CRIMES AGAINST GRAPHIC DESIGN
The Guardian did a hilarious piece on the font, Comic Sans, written entirely in Comic Sans. (Actually, the comments section is what made me laugh even more!)
In case you don’t know what Comic Sans is, let me show you.
Now that you’ve seen it, you may be thinking,
But why can’t I use it at my nonprofit? It looks so cute! So innocent! I’m going to put it on the newsletter right now!
Don’t touch that Font button!
This font is going to make everyone think you are silly! And worse, that your nonprofit is run by a bunch of jokers. People may laugh at clowns, but they don’t usually want to give money to them. If you don’t believe me about comic sans, check this twitter search out.
Now, check out this annual report.
I may have made some egregious graphic design errors in the past, but with this cover, I think I got something right.
Do you know where I got the idea from?
Where did I get the font? Urbanfonts.com
When a board member saw the annual report, she said, “But who is the graphic designer? That looks REALLY EXPENSIVE!”
And then I said to her, smugly, “I did it.” and “We got the whole thing printed for free by a generous corporate donation.”
And then she smiled and said nothing more.
If you’re still not convinced, think about what happens when you put a letter in arial versus a curly script font. Does arial make you feel sort of stripped down, and the curly font, a bit frivolous?
A font conveys a feeling. What feeling do you want your cause to convey in a reader? If your cause is serious and urgent and important, Comic Sans is not going to get that message across.
Nor is it appropriate to use for children. Children deserve good fonts too!
So, if you want to amp up the look and feel of your small nonprofit, the right font is the way to do it.
Places to get fonts include
Myfonts.com
Urban Fonts
Font Squirrel
Smashing Magazine
Google Fonts
(I especially like Google Font’s Crimson Text)
Try a distressed font like 28 days later
or go with Gotham, which was the Obama campaign’s font.
Fact: All of the NYC Subway stations also use Gotham font. It conveys authority.
And for all you head-nodders, the next comic sans is Papyrus!
Warning, clicking above may cause you to snort coffee out of your nose.
I do love comic sans, but I would never use it for anything work/professional-related.