In the past few weeks I have been designing lists (here and here) of good free typefaces, and I thought it was time to introduce some typefaces that should never be used. Keep in mind that there are more typefaces than shown here, but this is a good start. For those of you who have taken my class, you will understand why I hate these typefaces. You can see from my explanation below each typeface that many of them are badly designed, and overused. Let’s make the world a prettier place, and not use these. EVER.
And for those of you who are intrigued and want to know more, please sign up for my class here to learn more about the wonderful world of typography.
Scriptina is my least favorite typeface. Whenever I see it on an invitation set on Etsy, it makes me raise an eyebrow and not take the designer very seriously.
Love this! This would’ve made an awesome April Fools joke – “Go download this awesome font, Papyrus!” April Fools!
Happy to see ZAPFINO on the list!!!! Worst font ever!
This is a great list. All these fonts make me cringe just a little. But am I the only one breathing a sigh of relief that I’m not using any of these on my site? Because I totally am. ;)
hehe! your site looks great! especially love your logo :)
Thanks, Melanie! You made my day!
THANK YOU! Let’s get this viral on Pinterest. I think Budmo Jiggler needs to be added to the list – its cute but way overused in the wrong way!
hehehe. Any typeface with a name like that, you know it can’t be good.
Also, Dakota Handwriting. I feel people slap it anywhere they want to use handwritten looking text and it really is quite awful. There are plenty of lovely typefaces that would be a better fit.
Agreed! That is another terrible one. eek. There are a lot handwritten typefaces that are pretty bad.
I agree with all your choices Melanie! They’re all so gross hahaha.
I was holding my breath to see if any of these were ones I use and I did well until Mistral! I agree I scroll down through the factory installed choices on my computer and never want to use any of these. BUT if you’re not a trained graphic designer (which I am not) it can be hard to find alternatives and know what makes another font work – apart from gut feeling. Your lists of good fonts are a great place to start though. Thanks!
Nicola- its ok! I hope this post didn’t upset anyone, but was just a good guiding place for moving forward :) Someday soon I need to do a post showing some of my first design work.. and you will feel much better. It defiantly takes time, practice, and lots and lots of feedback—which is one of the reasons we are so focused on community here at Nicole’s classes. I have lots more lists of good typefaces to use, Keep an eye out, because I will be posting more soon, and some of them are already on your computer. Thanks for the comment!
The sushi place by my work has their restaurant name (on the side of the building) written in Papyrus. I swore I would never eat under that hideous font – out of protest – but last week my boss took me to lunch there, and I was so embarrassed. Seriously? Seriously. That font looks SO MUCH WORSE when the letters are three feet tall.
hehehe. I laughed so hard when I read that. Yes. Large Papyrus would feel much, much worse. But was the sushi good? My husband is always amused by my “cannot go there due to bad logo and/or typeface” list of restaurants. It’s a good thing he finds it funny!
Thanks Melanie for helping to save us from ourselves. It’s amazing how differently I see type now. Your lists (as well as your class) are so helpful…especially for the “non-designer ” like myself.
I am so glad my class has made a difference! That made my day :)
I thought I was the only one who boycotted companies/restaurants for using Papyrus! Good to know I’m not alone.
O.o I used to use Scriptina for my name, for my watermark on photos.. lol I loved it! The ‘t’ was a pain in the butt, I used to make my name in 3 separate layers and move them closer together lol. I now use Simply”Glamorous and LOVE it :]
I SO agree! I had a customer recently specifically request curlz and I about died. Even after showing her several alternatives, she was dead set on curlz. Blech! Darn dafont!!!
Love this Melanie!
Haha! This is so great :) I LOVED Comic Sans when I was a kid – so glad I outgrew that!
thank you! i’m so glad you were brave enough to post these! worst fonts ever!
http://principalspage.posterous.com/grammar-made-simple
Please refer to #5
Putting Mistral on this list is just a joke.
Mistral was created by the designer Roger Excoffon who is a bit more than you dream to be, and sure it’s not an “easy to use font” like Helvetica.
But reading “it’s just ugly” or “the letters don’t fit together very well” let me apreciate the great knowledge and taste you have about type design.
Thanks for the comment- one thing that I love about the internet, is that it is a great place to trade and share ideas. I can see that you really love mistral, and I don’t mean to be offending you. I am not the first person to take a whack at Mistral-I know that many other professional designers dislike this particular typeface, and this has been blogged about several other times. It is a typeface that really dates your design. And Tori is right, I don’t consider myself a better designer than Roger Excoffon, I am just trying to help my students pick the best typefaces possible. Hopefully we can agree that there are thousands of beautiful typefaces that we can focus on instead.
Blafafoire: Just because a designer produced amazing work doesn’t mean they ALWAYS produced amazing work. Styles change, people’s work improves, and even they can admit that some work wasn’t their finest. Paul Rand, one of my favorite designers, even approached one of his early clients, begging them to let him redo the logo he had created for them because he thought it was hideous and didn’t want such work representing him as a designer.
Melanie is just sharing her knowledge and opinions, as a trained designer, to help and educate others. I don’t think she is in any way saying that she is a better designer than those who created the above fonts.
Thanks tori for making that point, I truly don’t consider myself better than any type designers. Creating type is grueling hard work, and I don’t profess to do that. :) Thank for the kind comment.
The kerning on Scriptina is so awful!
Great list – thanks!