Please say the Ban Comic Sans protest site is satire—or at least a cynical move to sell t-shirts and other merchandise.
Because if it’s not satire and/or aimed at merchandise sales, it is some of the most sanctimonious, humorless, gasbag nonsense ever put on a Web site.
The Ban Comic Sans movement was purportedly launched by a designer couple who both claim to hate and want to outlaw the typeface recognizable as that used in comic book thought bubbles. If you’re having trouble picturing it, comic sans also often appears in incredibly unprofessional looking e-mail, usually in purple or pink.
“We believe in the sanctity of typography and that the traditions and established standards of this craft should be upheld throughout all time,” says copy on the “about” page of the Web site at http://bancomicsans.com.
“Early type designing and setting was so laborious that it is a blasphemy to the history of the craft that any fool can sit down at their personal computer and design their own typeface,” the post continues. “Technological advances have transformed typography into a tawdry triviality. The patriarchs of this profession were highly educated men. However, today the widespread heretical uses of this medium prove that even the uneducated have opportunities to desecrate this art form; therefore, destroying the historical integrity of typography.”
The site’s merchandise page offers hats, t-shirts, coffee mugs and buttons.
Either the two people who publish this Web site are funny and enjoyable to go have a few beers with. Or spending time with them is like having your appendix removed with a clam knife.
Anything in between just doesn’t seem possible.
