How would my little dog Dezi's words look in 'talk bubbles'? Would she speak in Comic Sans? Vincent Connare, the inventor of Comic Sans wrote the casual script typeface for Microsoft. They wanted something that would work with cartoon bubbles for children.
It became one of the default fonts in Windows 95, much to his surprise. It was extensively distributed - by Apple, and others.
In an interview with CBC on Saturday, he didn't complain about not receiving any special compensation. He said it was unusual to have a job as a typeface designer and that he loved his job at Microsoft. He was young - the font came out in 1995. He was born in 1960, and currently lives in France. So he's made enough to retire on his various typeface creations. His website is quite brief - it is HERE.
Comic Sans is loved and hated - its intended use was specific - to be casual in informal documents and children's material.
The CBC interviewer asked - should Rudy Giuliani use Comic Sans as a font in one of his submission letters to the Department of Justice? Connare laughed and then responded that there are restrictions on the fonts that can be used in legal documents. Comic Sans MS is not likely not allowed anywhere.
Could it be used for a sandwich shop sign? He found that a curious choice. Not a typical use.
It got me thinking. Which font would Dezi and Baxter speak in if I were to write a story? Baxter's tail tells many stories. He swooshes and wags his tail often - he is most curious about things and attentive to all movements in the yard. I interpret his swooshing as friendly and dominant. You can look up cat charts that show variations of cat speak.
Dezi's tail wags a lot but doesn't swoosh that I've seen. I don't know of any dogs who swoosh their tails. Supposedly wagging to the right is friendly and wagging to the left is trepidation or anger. And then they have lots of things to say with their body positions, ears, and mouths, and their various wiggles. It seems they have lots more to say than cats do. This makes me think they each need their own font.
Our Valentines continue today in graffiti and grunge findings.
