Most of us are glad that Lebron James and his choice of which basketball team to play for are no longer a national distraction. Now we can focus on important issues, like LiLo’s first 24 hours in prison (goodness, I do hope she’s okay). But there was one aspect of the King James saga that piqued my interest as a designer: Cleveland Cavaliers’ coach Dan Gilbert’s response to losing his star player.
Gilbert was understandably upset. Cleveland is James’ hometown, and the city expected a bit more loyalty. He pulled no punches in his very public letter to Cavs fans, posted front and center on the team page on nba.com. Except when he chose to typeset his post in the most mocked font of all time: Comic Sans.
Forget about what Gilbert actually wrote. No one cares; they’re all too fixated on the font everyone loves to hate. Comics Sans was actually higher up on Twitter’s list of Trending Topics than Lebron James himself. The last time a font generated so much mainstream interest was when IKEA decided to typeset its entire catalog in (gasp) Verdana.
I think the lesson here is pretty obvious: Comic Sans demands a bit more sensitivity. Think Canadian collector coins. For my money, nothing says online tirade like Papyrus. Did I mention it’s also great for subtitles?
