Quite simply put, this is about the dreadfonts.  Comic Sans, Papyrus, Mistral, Curlz, etc.  The list goes on, but these 4 are great examples of fonts/typefaces that were overused, abused, and should never, ever be used again for professional design.

The top 2 offenders on the list are obvious, though.  Comic Sans, Papyrus, shame on you and go to your room (or Hell).

Comic Sans is (fortunately) beginning to “fade away” in the world of design, but Papyrus is popping up to take the throne of the DreadFont (King of the Bad Fonts). We see Papyrus popping up on billboards, signage, storefronts, and EVEN LOGOS that were “professionally” designed.

It’s difficult to understand why any company would want to use Papyrus for ANYTHING since it screams “We’re an unoriginal company” to the audience.  Since it’s impossible to list off everything you shouldn’t do in one blog post, we’ll try a quick cover of the basics on what you should do.

First.) 2-3 Fonts

Yeah, that’s right.  There should be a MAXIMUM of 3 fonts on a site, preferably only 2.

Variations of these fonts are perfectly fine, but it’s typically best to go with one font for the headings, and one font for the body text.  That third font can show up in the menu if you want the menu to be more separated from the site or maybe as a call to action.

Second.) Serif vs. Sans-Serif

Serif fonts have…serifs – little thingamabobs that stick off the edges – this is a serif font.  They typically make great headings and titles for web, but can be difficult to read as body text on a screen.

Sans-Serif fonts don’t have serifs, they’re smooth. There’s a huge that can be used on most computers for body text and navigation. Sans-serif fonts can make great headings, too.

Third.) Contrast

We try to have a good contrast between heading fonts and body fonts – either using a serif or decorative typeface for the headings and a good, readable sans-serif typeface for the body text.  It’s just good policy.

Finally.) Variety

Web-safe fonts are limited – this sucks. Fortunately, now we have Google Font API and Typekit to the rescue.

Google Web Fonts are fonts that are stored on Google servers that can be activated for “font replacement” on any live web site.  Typekit does the same thing, and Kernest offers a similar solution, as well.

All of these options are GREAT for opening up the flood gates when it comes to font selection, just don’t get overwhelmed.

There’s one other font replacement service that we would like to mention – Cufon.  We’ve heard good and bad things about Cufon, but we’ve noticed on WordPress themes that have it pre-installed, it just happens to be a pain to remove.  Still, it’s another viable option that doesn’t harm SEO.

Why do people still use Comic Sans and Papyrus? Any other fonts to add to the list?