don’t dismiss a powerful, heartfelt message just because you don’t like its typeface, especially when it’s being used well (as it is here). That’s not a matter of taste. It’s classism, and classism is just a shade removed from the racism that cost Garner his life. Which, ultimately, is what we’re trying to rise above.
trying to rise above
it helps to humanize seemingly god-like basketball stars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James who are often expected to fit into an inoffensive, commercialized mold.
humanisizes famous people
Whether by accident or design, by putting “I Can’t Breathe” in Comic Sans, these shirts are channeling a lot of our peripheral feelings about a reviled typeface into Garner’s last words. It perfectly conveys Garner’s utter helplessness as New York City Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo strangled him to death
using this typeface showed the innocence and helplessness in this situation
Ironically, though, these are the same qualities that cause sophisticates to have such a knee-jerk reaction against Comic Sans: they view anyone who uses it as more than a little bit helpless
how other people see comic sans
It is a font that evokes a friendly, everyman vibe. It feels innocent.
ways comic sans is good
Comic Sans is better than any other font at conveying innocence.
so true
I Can’t Breathe” isn’t a mundane sentence. It’s a powerful and poignant rallying cry against the corruption, thuggery, and endemic racism of the modern American justice system. It hits you right in your solar plexus; to read the words are to feel in small part for yourself what Garner felt as a New York City police officer choked him to death for no reason at all.
important
they can impart authority, irony, silliness, or tragedy to even the most mundane sentences.
different types of ways typefaces effect us
What makes typefaces so special is they lend printed words a character they otherwise might not have
font choices have an effect on all people
Not only does Comic Sans work to great effect here; there isn’t a better font that could have been used for the message Rose was trying to put across.
it was a good font choice in the end and should not be criticized in this situtation
critics weren’t objecting to the T-shirt’s message. They were objecting to the font.
critics did not enjoy the font
“I Can’t Breathe” during warm-ups as a way of showing solidarity with the family of Eric Garner, a Staten Island man who was choked to death on video by a New York City police officer on July 17, 2014. The message on the shirt references Garner’s last words. Soon, similar T-shirts were being worn by players all around the NBA, including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Deron Williams.
important
Chicago Bulls star player Derrick Rose
person wearing the shirt
“Get the fuck over yourself.”
funny
if someone has gone through the time to carefully format something, please accept it in whatever color, whatever font people want to use. You never really know what is helping someone. If it’s not hurting you, then just leave it alone.”
let people do them as long as they do the work right
Asking her to change her font is asking her to take a task that is already very difficult for someone with dyslexia and demanding that she take extra steps to please the aesthetic preferences of someone for whom reading is easy.
important
Have you ever tried to format a scientific paper when you have to get everything lined up so specifically?
changing the font after putting it into comic sans if like formatting a science paper
The lecturer printed out these handouts in Times New Roman. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh my god. This is so easy!’ I handed him the thing back and I was like, ‘It’s not that your instructions are difficult, I cannot read them. I’ve nearly cried three times during this.’”
easy for others to read it but not others like her
The truly villainous font is the ubiquitous Times New Roman.
don't like times new roman
Other common fonts suggested by the British Dyslexia Association include Century Gothic, Verdana, Calibri, and Trebuchet. (Trebuchet was also designed by Connare.)
other common fonts for people with dyslexia
Comic Sans and Arial are readily available because they are included by default in many operating systems and word-processing programs, and they are web-safe fonts.
comic sans and arial are web-safe fonts
all of which lack the clean minimalism or elegant balance and perfect kerning favored by typography snobs. But they are crucial disability aids.
other fonts for people with dyslexia have been made but are not clean and elegant like what other typography people like
The line of thinking behind these movements is “quite elitist,” Jessica says. “It’s belittling and condescending.”
elitist and condesending
By banding together to eradicate this font from the face of the earth we strive to ensure that future generations will be liberated from this epidemic and never suffer this scourge that is the plague of our time.” Their website
they want to ban comic sans because they hate it although it is helpful for others to read with that font
“Comic Sans was NOT designed as a typeface but as a solution to a problem with the often overlooked part of a computer program’s interface, the typeface used to communicate the message,”
important
routinely mock those who use it as artistically stunted and uneducated
when using comic sans, lets say inads, is frowned upon because it looks "uneducated or dumb" it's abelist
Comic Sans uses few repeated shapes, creating distinct letters (although it does have a mirrored “b” and “d”). Comic Sans is one of a few typefaces recommended by influential organizations like the British Dyslexia Association and the Dyslexia Association of Ireland.
comic sans helps people with dyslexia because it has unique shapes and are not repeated like times new roman
The irregular shapes of the letters in Comic Sans allow her to focus on the individual parts of words.
Important