The Only Font Not as Bad as Comic Sans but Close Enough

SNL and Ryan Gosling hilariously address a huge issue in the media’s past that may have been overlooked in the hustle and bustle that was the success of the blockbuster premier of “Avatar.” In 2009, this cinematic experience with an estimated $237k budget chose the infamous Papyrus font to brand the movie. Maybe the graphic designer didn’t get the same “banned typeface” list that also included Comic Sans and Wingdings that I did in a visual design course, but he took that font and ran with it.

Ryan Gosling, aka Steven, did not let this go so easily in Saturday Night Live’s skit that has now reached over 6 million views on YouTube. “Steven,” struggles with what seems to be insomnia, depression, and a slight stalking problem over this plague that is the overuse of said font. The creator of Papyrus, Chris Costello, also says that the default font did become very overused in 2009 when the movie came to be. He states in an interview with TechCrunch that he and his wife watched the short video and “cracked up.”He also says that he still believes that it is a well-designed font!

If you ask me, the typeface Papyrus isn’t the problem—but the use, overuse, and featuring it as a blockbuster film’s branding image is the problem. We can LOL at it now but I think it would be better to do some rebranding in the future. If you want more tips on effective branding methods and more, check out some more of our Meeman 901 blogs!