Comic Sans: why it exists, and where it turned up
Drawn in 1994 for the speech bubbles in Microsoft Bob.
Comic Sans
ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789
- 48Quartz
- 32Judge my vow
- 24Sphinx of black quartz
- 18Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
- 14Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Preview uses Comic Neue, the closest free match.
In use, with DM Sans
Edit the words to try your own. The pairing tool has more body fonts.
Some roads only go one way.
The Long Way Home
Two brothers, one borrowed car and a thousand miles of coast between them and the funeral. In cinemas this spring.
History
- Vincent Connare designed it at Microsoft and it was released in October 1994.[1]
- He made it after seeing Times New Roman in the cartoon speech bubbles of a Microsoft Bob beta, drawing on comic lettering from The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. It was finished too late for Bob.[1]
- It first shipped in 3D Movie Maker, then in the Windows 95 Plus! Pack.[1]
Who uses it
- CERN's Higgs boson results presentation in July 2012, by ATLAS spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti[1]
- Dan Gilbert's 2010 letter to Cleveland Cavaliers fans after LeBron James left[1]
- A Sydney Morning Herald front page in September 2014[1]
- Sans's dialogue in the game Undertale (2015)[1]
Sources
The free alternative
Comic Neue keeps the hand-lettered comic book look, with more even, tidier shapes.
Body fonts that go with Comic Neue:
- DM SansA clean geometric body keeps the joke in the heading only.
- KarlaSlightly quirky grotesque that matches the informal tone without more handwriting.
- LatoRounded and friendly, so it agrees with the heading instead of fighting it.
Other fonts
- TrajanRoman inscription capitals, and the movie poster font.
- HelveticaThe Swiss sans that ended up on subway signs and airline logos.
- ArialDrawn to the same widths as Helvetica, shipped with Windows.
- FuturaThe 1927 geometric sans of circles and straight lines.
- GothamWide geometric capitals taken from New York building signs.
- ImpactA 1965 Sheffield display face that became the meme font.
- GaramondSixteenth century Paris type, revived many times since.
- Times New RomanMade for a London newspaper in 1932, then shipped with Windows.
- DidotHigh contrast French type, and the look of fashion magazines.
- BaskervilleA Birmingham printer’s sharper, lighter serif from the 1750s.
- CourierAn IBM typewriter face that screenplays never gave up.
- RobotoGoogle's Android system font since 2011.