Let’s get something straight: Comic Sans is not the villain. It never was. It’s just a font—an honest, bubbly, non-threatening font—and somehow, over the past two decades, it became the internet’s favorite punching bag. But if you look past the snark, the memes, and the design elitism, you’ll find that Comic Sans is actually wildly underrated—and maybe even misunderstood.
First off, Comic Sans wasn’t made for your resume or your minimalist startup’s brand deck. It was designed by Vincent Connare in 1994 to be friendly and readable, specifically for Microsoft Bob—a software interface meant to feel approachable to non-technical users. The goal was clarity, warmth, and accessibility. Mission accomplished. The fact that it got shoehorned into every flyer, email, and bake sale poster on Earth isn’t the font’s fault—it’s ours.
But even after decades of overuse, Comic Sans still works. It’s legible at small sizes. It doesn’t get mangled when printed. And most importantly: it doesn’t take itself too seriously. In a world obsessed with clean lines, brutalist grids, and Helvetica clones, Comic Sans feels like that one friend who still wears tie-dye and means it. Is that a crime? No. That’s personality.
Want to know who loves Comic Sans? Kids. Neurodivergent readers. People with dyslexia. It turns out that the quirky letterforms of Comic Sans are actually easier for some people to process than so-called “professional” fonts. The very things that designers scoff at—the inconsistent lines, the round shapes, the hand-drawn vibe—are exactly what make Comic Sans welcoming to people who find other fonts intimidating or hard to read.
And honestly, what are we even mad about? That people used it too much? That it showed up on church bulletins and PTA newsletters and garage sale signs? Guess what—that’s charm, not tragedy. Comic Sans was the voice of the people for a while. The every-font. It showed up where people didn’t have a designer on staff or a subscription to Adobe Fonts. It was accessible. It was democratic. It was goofy—and it knew it.
The backlash isn’t about Comic Sans. It’s about taste policing. It’s about gatekeeping design. And that’s what makes the hate so tiresome. Because at the end of the day, fonts are tools. You don’t make fun of someone for using a wrench just because it’s not chrome-plated and Swedish. If it fits the job, let it work.
So bring it back. Use Comic Sans proudly—maybe not on your law firm’s website, but on your blog’s “Out of Office” post. On your party invites. On your kid’s science fair display. Let Comic Sans be what it was meant to be: lighthearted, functional, and totally unpretentious.
It’s time to forgive the font, embrace the fun, and stop acting like typography has to be so damn serious all the time.