Comic Sans is the black sheep of type design. It was designed by Vincent Connare for a very specific use but happened to be added to Microsoft’s catalogue of fonts and therefore became standard in every computer. Since then it's been everywhere, from improvised signs to restaurant menus, postcards, email signatures, even packaging (Oreo used it). It's probably the most loved typeface for informal communication.

On the other hand, graphic designers tend to hate it. Much has been published about that hatred, and there is even a campaign to ban the typeface. They claim it goes against most rules of good typography, especially because it doesn't follow an identifiable structure.

We find it very interesting that designers react in a manner that is so opposed to their audience. It would be too naive to claim that Comic Sans is a correct and well-used typeface, but there must be something about it that makes it beloved by amateurs. We wanted to see if we could learn what that is, yet at the same time trying to achieve a more neutral looking type. It'd be called Serious Sans.

Our goal was to research Comic Sans' odd structure and respect it as much as possible. We'd use similar metrics and proportions, also considering the overall look of the characters. The idea was to make it less funny, more towards a modern sans. So we had two different directions to guide us: on one side the typography books and its rules on how to achieve a harmonious type, and on the other Comic Sans as our structure with all its oddness and particularities. Serious Sans is the result of our investigation on the gap between these two directions, between the professional and the amateur experiences.

We like to consider this as a research project. More than the result, the process of looking at Comic Sans for several days in a row and trying to make sense of it ended up being a valuable end in itself. Serious Sans was released on our final show at the Royal College of Art and since has become a great influence on how we approach type design.