Why Typography Doesn’t Matter
People use Comic Sans in real life.
Typography doesn’t matter.
If someone can read your text, chances are they don’t care about the font.
Typography doesn’t matter.
I dare you to find one non-designer that knows what kerning is, much less why it is important.
Typography doesn’t matter.
Not to non-designers anyway.
How long do you spend thinking about typography when you are designing? Too Long.
Don’t get me wrong, I personally think typography is one of, if not the, most important elements of design. But think about it: do the visitors of your site really care whether or not they’re seeing the font at the top of your font stack? As long as they can read it, I’d argue that they probably don’t.
I can guess what you might be thinking now: “What about Comic Sans?” and I know what you mean.
You’re thinking that the amount of outcry there is whenever Comic Sans is used publicly must mean something? Right? Why else do so many people care so much, but also manage to not care about typography?
Well I argue that they don’t care. In my opinion, Comic Sans’ bark is worse than its bite. It has been hated for so long that as people “join the movement” to fight it that they never really form their own opinions about it. It’s a classic example of the domino effect, or “I was hating blank before it was cool.”
If you ask a random on the street to choose between a nicely kerned title vs an out-of-the-box one, chances are they won’t be able to tell the difference.
One final argument before I quit: designers are a stuck-up bunch. Don’t think I mean designers that aren’t me, I am fully aware that I am just as stuck up as the rest of you. It’s just one of the best skills you can find in a designer.
If you’re a designer and not at least a little bit defensive of your work, then I’d love to shake your hand and congratulate you on being the only one.
Such is our way of life. We care about typography, therefore everyone else does.
Stay tuned for Friday when I’ll argue why typography does matter, as well as which side I am personally on.
Your articles are pretty good, but the design of this blog looks like a ten year old freewebs website.
@A Reader
Thanks for your opinion, I´m actually in the midst of a redesign right now.
I was actually reading your post while thinking mostly about your font. “wow, what large font… props to him for using something that’s readable… I just wish it wan’t Helvetica.”
I’m not sure I read half of what you said, but I read the conclusion after I was finished scanning your typography.
However, I must say I love your big, simple, comment form.
People don’t *think* they care about typography, but I’m willing to be if you present something thoughtfully laid out, with nice typography on a grid structure as opposed to something badly kerned, smashed together, or with too many typefaces used – even the average person could tell the difference. As with all design, it’s psychological. It expresses quality, thoughfulness and craftmanship to the audience. Most people don’t “care” – but they do respond when it looks nice.
This is great. I thought it was a joke, because it is so ironic that the title is so messed up and hard to read with the narrow tall face and the huge word spacing. I think maybe this is still a joke and I am the only one that isn’t playing along. But, I then looked at other articles and saw the really bad type used for the sub headers and it is NO joke. Ha.
So, I am thinking of using this article for my class to blog about. As new designers, I think in a couple weeks they will know better than this.
Thanks for great comments!
So, I have discovered your H1s render different of every browser. What might your h1 style be? It looks bad on all three.
I must say this was a rather interesting read!
I think u underestimate the non-designers…. everyone -a designer or not has two eyes which helps them perceive everything as images (I hope I do not need to explain the science behind it!). The designers have an advantage –attention to detail, which is the prime factor of them being designers. But other people are not far behind.. They understand, they might not know the terminology like kerning and space after etc but visual appeal and type justification everyone understands. Its inbuilt-if u r human u would get it! (Only the extent might vary). Like say for example u know what happens in cardio surgery but can u do it? No u cant hence doctors are required. It’s the same in all professions. Be it a doctor or designer.
But I must say your article was a good read and I would like to definitely follow up on it.