Top Ten Worst and Best Typefaces (Fonts)

After watching a Scott Kelby video in which he goes off on how ignorant folks are in choosing typefaces for various purposes, I decided to do my own Guy Noir Private Eye investigation into the matter. I did this to educate myself and to confront my own ignorance of the subject. (As it turns out, the world of printing and typefaces is huge and quite interesting.)

What follows, then, is my own list of the Top Ten Worst and Best Typefaces. I put this list together after doing an informal survey of as many websites as I could find that addressed the issue. As I wrote down the typefaces mentioned, and placed tick marks beside the most oft-repeated ones, I saw definite trends, and thus my lists.

One caveat before we get to the lists: In some cases, one can find the same typeface on both best and worst lists of the various printing experts (except my lists below). Whether a typeface is bad or good depends very much on the use of it, the overuse of it, or the appropriate/inappropriate use of it. It also depends on whether you mean bad or good based on readability or printability. New Times Roman, for example, can show up on both lists because it is so ubiquitous (worst list–folks are sick of it) and because it is quite readable, printable and utilitarian (best list–it doesn’t offend).

Finally, some typefaces are eternal, others go in and out of fashion with the years. So, before you print up those business cards or those invitations or your photo books, do some online research to make sure you are not committing the printmaking equivalent of a horrific ax murder.

OK, here we go…first, The Top Ten Worst Typefaces (Avoid!)

1. Comic Sans – Hands down, the number one hated typeface

2. Brush Script, Bradley Hand, or any other handwritten font

3. Papyrus

4. Curlz MT, or any other flowery script

5. Souvenir

6. Arial

7. Courier and New Courier

8. 2012 Headline (the London Olympics typeface)

9. Impact

10. Copperplate Gothic

And… The Top Ten Best Typefaces

1. Helvetica

2. Futura

3. Garamund

4. Times New Roman

5. Gill Sans

6. Frutiger

7. Clarendon

8. Verdana

9. Myriad

10. Bodoni

Hopefully, my lists will help keep you out of agua caliente with angry and insulted printers and typesetters (and Scott Kelby). In the meantime, I need to reprint my business cards…