Fontroversy #2: "Comic Sans: From Their Hate Came Love (And Money)"

Graphic design may be our passion, but everybody needs a break too! While Did I Do That? is off for a few weeks between seasons, enjoy a few episodes of our sister podcast Fontroversy, produced by one of Sean's classes in Spring 2023. If you missed episode 1, no worries—unlike the glut of superhero cinematic universe movies out there, there's nothing there you need to know to enjoy to this one! If you want to revisit it, though, you can find it here!

When a typeface ripped from the funny pages starts to get contentious, surprise guest expert Whitney McPhie (currently serving as Interim Creative Director at Willamette Week) intervenes to school Lena and Sean on what Comic Sans can really do.

IMPORTANT EDITORIAL CORRECTION: Gentle Giants Dog Food does NOT, in fact, use Comic Sans on its packaging—it instead uses a DaFont-style Disney-inspired sans paired with, of all things, Bank Gothic Sean apologies for this truly shameful oversight, although in their defense, attempting to look at any one specific type block on the package without being immediately distracted is basically impossible.

Segment Producer: Whitney McPhie

Researchers: Ashley Heeke, Sophia Stoker

Story Editors: Anna Stanton, Hannah Joseph

Sound Editing & Mix: Orion Cortez

This episode was recorded Tuesday, May 30, 2023, and originally published Thursday, August 3, 2023.

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PRODUCTION CREDITS

Fontroversy was created by the students of DES 399 Public Design Communication in the Spring of 2019 as part of Portland State University’s Graphic Design program in Portland, Oregon. You can learn more about PSUGD at psu.gd. You can learn more about the PSU School of Art+Design at pdx.edu/art-design.

Host: Lena Hall

Show Logo: Robert Ditty

Social Media Coordinator: Ashley Heeke

Producer: Sean Schumacher

Editorial Assistance by: Orion Cortez

Music: “How Can Things Be” by Holizna

For more about Fontroversy, visit fontroversy.com or follow @fontroversy.psugd on Instagram.

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