The ugly history of Comic Sans

This is the story of a Windows disaster that birthed a typography disaster that turned into an ongoing joke.

It seems people fall into one of two camps: those who hate Comic Sans and those who pretend to like Comic Sans. At one point in time, this font was designed intentionally for a specific use. In current times it’s best used as a joke and a bit of a meme.

Surprisingly, the origins of Comic Sans root back to a failed Microsoft product. The concept of Microsoft having a failed product isn’t a shocker, but the idea that Comic Sans would emerge as the surviving relic of this failure seems unlikely. Decades later, almost every computer user knows what Comic Sans is. Very few know who, or what, Microsoft Bob is.

You could even argue that Comic Sans gets a bad reputation. There are times when the font might be suitable and there may even be people who can benefit from the font. Before Comic Sans becomes the butt of your joke, perhaps it could help to understand its purpose in the world and the reason early designers wanted it in their software.

The font that survived Microsoft’s failure

In the mid-’90s, home computers were becoming increasingly common. More households were getting their first…