Nothing funny about comic sans

All right, y’all, we need to have a talk.

You can tell it’s a serious one by the font I begged for today, comic sans. That’s not a joke (I know, it’s a shocking departure from my usual witty repartee). English teachers of the U.S., snarky designers and editors, I beg you in particular to hear me out on this.

I have a degree in linguistics, which basically means I’ve studied language like a science — how we learn to speak, how we understand grammar, how we perceive sounds, etc. This also means I have some pretty strong opinions on issues of language equality. Believe it or not, there are several (and no, we’re not talking about ‘political correctness’ right now). One of the most prevalent issues of language equality in our day has to do with an issue you’re likely familiar with: Dyslexia.

For those who don’t recall the term, dyslexia is basically a reading disability which involves a disconnect in the brain between speech sounds (talking) and the signs (letters and words) we use to represent those speech sounds. Even more simply, a dyslexic brain has some issues connecting letters and words to actual language (you know, the stuff we say to each other).

Dyslexia looks different in different people, but many struggle to read, especially when they’re first learning. Even for those who become avid readers, a common complaint is that the letters on the page seem to get mixed up — 'b's look like ‘d’s look like ‘p’s…because many of those letters are the very same shape and size, rotated and flipped.

Except in comic sans. If you go back up a few lines, you’ll see there are slight differences between those notoriously similar letters. Although the font was not originally created for people whose letters like to play alphabet soup, it has slowly gained appreciation for being dyslexic-friendly.

In addition to slight variation among letters (which won’t help everyone, since most of us don’t read in comic sans often enough to half-memorize the letters), the font is also notably wide. It’s so wide I had to ask nicely to get it in newsprint. In fact, you were going to get a personal letter from Brittney Spears today, but it had to be bumped to make room (just kidding, I would be bumped for Brittney every time). Comic sans is what’s called a ‘monospace’ font, so every letter takes up the same space in the line, instead of a space proportional to how wide or narrow that letter is. This extra space is one of the most helpful characteristics of fonts like comic sans.

Comic sans is also a sans serif font, meaning it doesn’t have decorative serifs (kind of like flourishes) on the letters. (Think of the little feet on a calligraphic ‘A’.) In fact, most sans serif fonts are generally considered easier to read for everyone.

As you can plainly see with your own eyes, comic sans doesn’t deserve the bad rap. Although there is no consensus on the most readable font, the much maligned design is, unarguably, a more readable one for anyone. And if you’ve taught yourself to be annoyed by this or any font, well, sorry friend, but that’s a choice. Change your thinking and comic sans won’t bother you anymore. But it will likely help some people reading this column today — hello, dyslexic Press readers!

So please, if you see comic sans in the wild, leave it alone. There’s a reason we don’t communicate in calligraphically-optimized letters all day (we don’t need to). The c’ sans and its friends optimized for dyslexia like OpenDyslexic and Dyslexie just might serve a purpose that surpasses issues of design or “professionalism:” It’s just there to be read by everyone.

Switch the font on your e-reader, computer, or other device to a dyslexic or monospace font. You may be surprised at how much easier on the eyes it is for you, too.