As a designer and instructor I’m always preaching the importance of good typography to clients and students. Choosing a typeface that communicates clearly and reinforces the literal, as well as implied meaning of an item is a skill that every successful designer must master. Granted, even the best designers will fail on occasion when it comes to choosing the right typeface, but most agree about which ones to avoid all together. One such typeface for me is Comic Sans.
About the only time I would endorse the use of this typeface as a valid design choice is when setting the dialog in a comic book word bubble (even then, it’s a weak choice – there are far better). Every typeface has a personality and evokes a certain set of emotions. To me Comic Sans is synonymous with silliness, lightheartedness, and comedy. So, you can about imagine what my reaction was when I saw it used to set the word “Ambulance” on a small town emergency vehicle that raced by.
That was easily one of the most awkward moments I think I’ve ever been in. In one breath I thought of the poor patient inside whose life may have been in serious peril and then laughed at the irony and utter ridiculousness of Comic Sans being used in such a situation. Before you write off all designers as being callous critics, please note that it was my wife who first noticed the visual incongruity (I’ll probably need an ambulance for admitting that).