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Comic Sans Alternatives

Stephen Coles
C
Last edited July 06, 2017

It’s the typeface that designers love to hate. Websites have been built to mock it and campaigns mounted to ban it. Unflinching, it continues to show its ungainly face on flyers, signs, and anything meant to be “fun” simply because it’s the only casual font that comes with Windows. Here are some more professional ways to have a good time.

See also: Handwriting Fonts

grapes
guitarfishes
Freak out and drink all the liquor

For a complete overview of all glyphs and OpenType features download the FF Uberhand Manual (PDF). The FF Uberhand Text family has two weights, Regular and Bold, with spacing and color tuned for longer text settings on paper or screen. The 11 versatile weights from Hairline to Black of the... Read More

safety
hypothenuses
Stuff in palm treasure crayfish

Zemke Hand was based on the handwriting of its creator, Deborah Zemke, who also designed the symbol font ITC Situations. Cheerful and carefree, the characters have the consciously sketchy look of printed handwriting. ITC Zemke Hand will please young and very young readers and is perfect for cartoons, comics and children's books.

chalet
fiddlesticks
Poisonous and evil rubbish

Roman Sehrer, a seasoned German advertising professional, has digitized his handwriting to create a family of three fonts to meet your free-feeling and laid back design needs. Sehrer recommends that you try this family out on posters, logos, and restaurant menus, where in each case it will offer a great combination and contrast to traditional sans serifs like Helveticaor like Univers.

vortex
microphysics
He is a red sucker in our heart

LisaBeth Weber's eponymous typeface ITC Weber Hand is deceptively simple-looking. It's a handwriting face in a light, monolineal style with a slightly formal, almost angular appearance. Weber, who is an accomplished singer/songwriter as well as an artist and lettering artist, says she has "always had an inherent sensibility with lettering." Her favorite subject in the first grade was... Read More

safety
japanophilia
Line up to block in the seafood

Venture reflects Hermann Zapf's own handwriting; it was originally written with a Japanese felt pen. Just as with his Noris Script typeface, Hermann Zapf desired to preserve the rough outline of the handwritten forms in the final drawings. Unlike many script faces, there are no connecting strokes in Venture, making the design feel more open, and perhaps a bit more like a printing type. Venture... Read More

mystic
conceptional
No kicking of balls please

In 1994, John Benson designed Alexa, Caliban and Balzano, three typefaces with a similar style. Characteristic of all of them is their calligraphic touch and the likeness to handwriting. Alexa shows a hint of a broad tipped pen style and its legible figures are reserved yet lively. Alexa is best for short and midsized texts as well as headlines and gives texts a personal, classic look.

always
abstractions
No selling delayed mildew food

Providence was first drawn in 1987 to set lines in a comic book series – FF Providence Sans for the dialog, and its serif companion for running narrative. In 1994 the typefaces were revisited, adding weights and a set of dingbats, and named after the designer’s home town in Rhode Island, USA.

rocket
zygapophysis
Dying here is strictly prohibited

Controlled casualness is the watchword in this new handwriting script from the prolific young French designer Éric de Berranger, who also designed the sans serif type family ITC Octone. ITC Berranger Hand has its roots in chancery calligraphy, yet its surface looks like contemporary informal lettering that was written quickly with a felt-tip pen on slightly absorbent paper. The counters of some... Read More

Jens Kutilek
FontFont 2017
Comicraft Design
Comicraft
John Roshell
Comicraft
John Roshell and Richard Starkings
Comicraft
Deborah Zemke
ITC 1997
Comicraft Design
Comicraft
John Roshell and Scott McCloud
Comicraft
John Roshell and Dave Gibbons
Comicraft 2009
Roman Sehrer
Linotype 2004
John Roshell and Richard Starkings
Comicraft 2011
John Roshell
Comicraft
LisaBeth Weber
ITC
Three Islands Press
Three Islands Press

Comicraft
Gert Wiescher
Wiescher Design 2005
Nick Shinn
Shinntype 2021
Comicraft Design
Comicraft
John Roshell
Comicraft
John Roshell
Comicraft 2005
Hermann Zapf
Linotype 1969
John Roshell and Richard Starkings
Comicraft 2008
John Benson
Adobe 1994
Garrett Boge
LetterPerfect 1997
Guy Jeffrey Nelson
FontFont 1994

Comicraft
John Roshell
Comicraft
John Roshell
Comicraft
John Roshell
Comicraft 2009
Comicraft Design and John Roshell
Comicraft 2022
Éric de Berranger
ITC
John Roshell and Dave Lanphear
Comicraft 2022
John Roshell
Comicraft 2005
John Roshell
Comicraft 2022
Comicraft Design
Comicraft
John Roshell and Brian Bolland
Comicraft 2009
John Roshell and Bryan Talbot
Comicraft