If you’ve ever stabbed yourself in the face, chances are you understand the pain a designer feels when she is asked to set some type using Papyrus. If you’ve shot off the tips of your fingers with a machine gun, you can begin to appreciate the torture experienced by a designer realizing that the request is not just to set some headings in Papyrus, but body type. Paragraphs of doom.
No hyperbole here. Hell isn’t just other people. It’s other people who like this font.
Papyrus, a typeface designed in 1982 by a man named Chris Costello, is an abomination that graces the pages of far, far too many resort brochures and Microsoft Word-designed “fliers” (ed. note: using the word “designed” very loosely, here). “Costello described his goal as a font that would represent what English vernacular would have looked like if written on papyrus 2000 years ago.” Noble. Or idiotic. Only second-rate brands like AriZona tea and Crocodile Hunter could even pretend not to be ashamed for using this typeface that even its designer is tired of seeing.
Here’s what ITC, the current owner of Papyrus, has to say about it:
[Papyrus is an] unusual roman typeface [that] effectively merges the elegance of a traditional roman letterform with the hand-crafted look of highly skilled calligraphy.And here’s how I would rewrite that sentence:
[Papyrus is an] unusually awful roman typeface [that] merges the inelegance and repugnance of a traditional roman latrine with the hand-crafted-by-a-four-year-old look of highly abhorrent melted-from-the-sun Crayola® crayon doodling.And now, without further ado, I present to you the latest Big Ugly Font. Papyrus, in all her glory. Click the letters below to view the “carefully-designed” forms in horrifically huge image sizes.
And if you feel like being a total asshole, set one of your favorites as the wallpaper on your roommate’s computer.
Gag me with a spoon. Slit my eyelids with sandpaper.
Previous Big Ugly Font: Arial
8 comments:
"Slit my eyelids with sandpaper", I've not heard that one before.
But yeah, Crappy font.
Classic wit. Great stuff. I'm keeping this post to share with others when they innocently think Papyrus is a "neat" font. Barf.
I see lots of people crabbing about this font. But I've yet to see a single one of them suggest an alternative that will give a similar "feel" or "look."
I personally take that personally. I love that font! It's my favorite font ever. I guess bad taste is common here You people are ridiculous, slamming fonts? Hoestly, get a life, along with some taste.
I agree Papyrus is greatly (GREATLY!) overused. Yet what is the substitute for, say, a film title (something like THE MUMMY) or a book about an ancient Egyptian character? I would like to have something to plug into that slot, and preferably a typeface that isn't available as a default to 3 billion computers.
--Duncan
=====================
Cover artist for HarperCollins' Digital Artwork for the 21st Century.
See my illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
Duncan,
Not a perfect list, but here are some substitutes: http://www.fontshop.com/fontlist/alternatives/papyrus/
And, I would also say that more often than not, if you're setting a title for a book/poster that needs an Egyptian calligraphic flair, you're best off actually hand drawing something for it, rather than grabbing an existing typeface. Lots more work, true, but it'll be a great deal more authentic.
If Papyrus is good enough for Stuart Wilde it's good enough for me! Get a life!!!
http://www.stuartwildeblog.com/stuarts-books/
Excellent entry! Thank you! I think more people need to be informed of the horrors of Papyrus, too many believe it's the be-all end-all of "elegant" "exotic" or "beautiful" fonts... and it's clearly none of the above. So many fonts can be used in it's place that look far more attractive that it's hardly able to be listed.
Too many times have I had to direct housewives and cafe-owners from using this font. And I've always been thanked afterwards when I direct them to a more suitable font for their situation.
It's hard to list fonts to be used as a substitute for Papyrus because it is overused to the point that hundreds of fonts could be used in the wide area of uses it "covers". And no that doesn't make it a useful "Swiss Army knife" of fonts, that makes it a dangerous font to use under any circumstances other than a family invitation.
@Auricfield
Yeah... and if you knew anything about design you'd think his website was banner was ugly, and that he should fire his web designer (or hire one assuming he's doing it himself). His booys may be wonderful, but his use of Papyrus (and that ugly pink tree banner) really are not.
Post a Comment