There are a few fonts out there which are used far too much, and all come as default fonts with Windows machines. Times New Roman is just bad; an dated, old-style font that nobody likes. Not pretty on screen, killing it for print use too. But it’s not the prime offender, as not many people like it.

Probably the most used font on the planet, Arial is an ugly ripoff of Helvetica which never deserved its current status. As most sans-serifs are better on-screen than most serifs, they’re going to be more popular, so the default generic sans with the default generic system wins. But it’s not the worst popular font.

No, that glorious title goes to Comic Sans. It’s popular because people think it looks “friendly”. Think it’s “fun” and “casual”. I’ve seen it used in conference posters, in scientific documents, on shop signage. It’s shit. If I can be even more blunt and opinionated:

If you use Comic Sans, it makes your documents look like they were written by a seven year old. It’s unprofessional, ugly, and makes it clear you couldn’t afford to hire a real designer. So please, please don’t use it.

Something else: just noticed on the Live8 broadcast while Coldplay/Richard Ashcroft are on stage, there’s a visual effect going on in the background that looks a lot like a horizontal/vertical version of my composition Abstracted. If anyone out there knows who did the visuals, and if it was connected, let me know. It is free to use and Live8 is a good cause; just wondering.