Comic Sans acquired visibility in the late 1990s, just as the internet started to gain popularity. As webpages became more commonplace, people had the ability to customize their homepages. As a result, people could select a typeface with personality, such as Comic Sans, over a more straightforward font such as Times New Roman. Yet, while it does have a quirky personality, Comic Sans is often viewed as immature. Its playful, almost childlike look makes it feels considerably unfit for traditional design.
While Comic Sans is notorious as a typeface designers love to hate, Helvetica is more surprisingly polarizing. The font is so beloved that it inspired an entire documentary, but its hype eventually led to overuse. Recent trend cycles have leaned away from more minimal aesthetics, which have often relied heavily on sans serif types. While Helvetica’s clear look makes it flexible and accessible, it can make designs feel a bit uninspired and outdated.
As an experiment, graphic designer Alexander Pravdin decided to combine these two dichotomizing fonts into one. “Comic Helvetic” creates a perfect middle ground between Comic Sans and Helvetica by implementing specific design aspects from each. For example, Pravdin adds order to Comic Sans by lending it the symmetry and order of Helvetica’s structure.
Since Comic Sans and Helvetica still elicit strong reactions on their own, this new combination is sure to stir up some drama in the design community.
Project Credits
Alexander Pravdin
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