Something to be proud of, was how I (Snog Blog) might have been one of the earliest people (7 February 2004) to interview Vincent Connare over his polarising typeface. More than two decades later, the archives are lost, Forbes and the like jumps on the bandwagon, and thankfully, the wayback machine hoards everything.
Enjoy this interview from 2004.
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You are sick of Comic Sans. I’m sick of Comic Sans. Why the hell are we still talking about it? Vincent Connare tells us a some things we don’t know about the world’s favourite font, the one designers love to hate and the one which has been discussed ad nauseam.
First up, did you really allow the guys behind the bancomicsans movement to use your picture as a mascot for the movement as they claimed in this issue of How? I remember you griping about it on the MS Typography site.
[Vincent Connare] I got an email from Dave Combes asking to use it. I didn’t answer right away and I didn’t say yes or no. I guess I said do whatever you want meaning if you’ve got nothing better to do with your time I don’t really care.
Tell us about your favourite and least favourite Comic Sans sighting.
[Vincent Connare] My absolute favourite was that at the 2003 ATypI conference in Vancouver, Canada. The lunch bags had Comic Sans on them telling you what was in the bag — the ultimate irony. Then there was the ‘Fun Stamps’ Neon sign I saw years ago over a store in WA state.
Worst use would have to be restaurant menus, or Apple’s iCards. The worst from way back was a Black Sabbath site. And some woman’s site selling her soft porn that gave me credit for the font at the bottom.
Favourite Comic Sans moment?
Laurie Anderson (or her people) called one of the Microsoft program managers and wanted to use it on her interactive CD. I told them give it to her. But I never heard that she used it.
Disney called once and wanted to use it. I said I wanted a signed picture from Mickey Mouse, but didn’t get it. But then my fiancée, a talent agent, called Disney in London and explained the situation and they finally sent me a signed picture from Mickey Mouse, I got it this Christmas!
At ATypI I was LMAO as they say when I saw those bags. There was some university bloke who was presenting lists of numbers and other data about fonts and Comic Sans was listed as one of the most disliked ‘among the designers he interviewed’. Fantastic.
Eminem’s video with Bin Laden has Comic Sans in it.
What is your reaction to all this Comic Sans bashing? How did it feel? As the designer of the font?
[Vincent Connare] People don’t know why it was made. If they did they would realize that it was what design is about —designing for a product with an appropriate design. Not Times New Roman. They also need to pull their heads from their arses.
That’s it? Is this your final answer? How did it feel?
It pisses me off.
Anyone had an over-the-top reaction upon finding out you are the designer of their favourite font?
Yes, sitting at the pub after one of our baseball practices last summer, a new pitcher that had just joined us came up and said “I have to shake your hand. I can’t believe you designed Comic Sans, it’s my favourite font.”
There’s also this musician and writer, represented by my fiancée. He gave her his preliminaries for his next book as a pile of papers about six inches high and it was all in Comic Sans about 500 pages, double-spaced, about 14 point. He said he loved it. I just smiled.
There are hundreds of stories of people saying things like that. I figure it says a lot about someone. If you love it, you don’t know much about typography and if you hate it you really don’t know much about typography either and you should get another hobby.
You have always maintained that it is inappropriate use that makes Comic Sans “bad”. What do you say to those who say that Comic Sans is just bad, no matter how it’s used?
[Vincent Connare] I usually say chose something else. I didn’t include it in Windows, if you want the real story just ask, and go out get a girlfriend/boyfriend and a life.
Designers can be pathetic. Some don’t understand being practical.
So is typography your life or a job for you?
I’m getting sick of the ponces in typography, the hypocrisy is outrageous.
Any theories on why the movement hasn’t run its course? Are there any fonts which you would like to ban?
[Vincent Connare] I think they should ban Apple. First they name their company after the Beatle’s label. Then they release ‘sosumi’ as a sound saying it isn’t music ‘so sue me’ and it doesn’t violate the contract with Apple Music. Now their best-selling product is music.
They chose Microsoft core fonts as its iCard web fonts. Then it released Chalkboard eight years later and it looks to even professionals I sent it to like a copy of the style of Comic Sans. Welcome to the ban wagon.
Do you see the funny side of all these? Does this tickle you?
[Vincent Connare] Yeh it’s all quite funny and I just saw Carol Vorderman on Countdown about an hour ago.
You have designed Trebuchet, Comic Sans, Magpie and Fabula. If you could only pick one font to be known for, which one would it be? And why?
[Vincent Connare] I have to say Magpie since I had the time to research what I really wanted to do and not just make a font that solved a Microsoft issue.
Have you learnt anything from this Comic Sans incident?
[Vincent Connare] Not really anything other than that designers can’t make a font as popular, no matter how high a horse they want to ride. Sometimes the common man just doesn’t like what they like.
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The internet was a different beast then. There were no exploitative algorithms, and more humans than bots. If you read the original version on the way back machine, you can see Vincent, Hrant, Dave Combs, etc getting into a debate about the use of his image. It was a nice time to be blogging.
