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Dear Startups, Lobster is the new Comic Sans

5in5nyc.com

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Re: Dear Startups, Lobster is the new Comic Sans

#21

Post by njs12345 »

untog wrote: post #13
ChuckMcM wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing at all, and there was nothing wrong with Comic Sans either. However it drives my friends who aspire to be designers into frothing fits of rage. It was explained to me this way, "Chuck lets say that bubble sorts and bloom filters were these versatile algorithms that worked really well on a few things, but a bunch of cut-n-paste programmers started using them for every program they wrote, hello world with a bub…

I think the larger point there is "does any of that matter"? I don't think it does. It's possible to be a lazy programmer and a lazy designer and still be entirely successful. Understandable that it irritates programmers and designers, but it's a fact of life.

Exactly - your customers might care if you use Comic Sans ('ew, why is this site so ugly?') but probably won't if you use Lobster or, say, Twitter Bootstrap well - even if you might be lazy.

Re: Dear Startups, Lobster is the new Comic Sans

#22

Post by powrtoch »

gyardley wrote: post #15

Oy. Comic Sans isn't problematic because everyone uses it, it's problematic because it's a bad font. The kerning alone is reason enough not to use it. http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-you-hate-comic-sans/ By this author's logic we should all stop using Helvetica, too - it's way too common.

Lobster and Comic Sans are both highly stylized font-faces, Helvetica is not. It's okay for Helvetica to be common because it doesn't scream "Hey look at me, I'm Helvetica!"

When non-stylized things become very common, it's usually because they're good all around choices: their popularity advances the field. When extremely stylized things become very common, it typically leads to embarrassment down the road.

In music for example, it's now very common to have the drums in the center of the mix. This is the default because it makes sense. You only notice the panning of the drums when it's something else. In the eighties it became extremely common to use almost nothing but synths, and to have the snare drum drenched in reverb. You listen back to eighties material now, and at best you appreciate the campiness of these things. Mostly they seem like a weird obsession that suddenly gripped the whole industry and warped everything to come out of it for a decade. The modern day equivalent of course is Autotune.

Re: Dear Startups, Lobster is the new Comic Sans

#23

Post by ericskiff »

untog wrote: post #13
ChuckMcM wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing at all, and there was nothing wrong with Comic Sans either. However it drives my friends who aspire to be designers into frothing fits of rage. It was explained to me this way, "Chuck lets say that bubble sorts and bloom filters were these versatile algorithms that worked really well on a few things, but a bunch of cut-n-paste programmers started using them for every program they wrote, hello world with a bub…

I think the larger point there is "does any of that matter"? I don't think it does. It's possible to be a lazy programmer and a lazy designer and still be entirely successful. Understandable that it irritates programmers and designers, but it's a fact of life.

I completely agree :) There's a portion of this that is tongue in cheek, and I doubt we will actually change Framey (our own site which uses Lobster in the logo) at this point.

Really, I just wanted to raise it in people's consciousness so it's a consideration when you're choosing the font for your next project.

I think we're right at the threshold where powerusers (and tech blog authors) will start seeing Lobster and think "Ah. generic startup font. This was thrown together in a weekend."

Sometimes that's just fine, but it's not always what you want your wordmark to communicate.

Re: Dear Startups, Lobster is the new Comic Sans

#25

Post by ericskiff »

sp332 wrote: post #8

I really don't understand this rant. Lobster is a title font, not a body font. Also unlike Comic Sans, it's actually pretty nice. The argument seems to be that Lobster is "overplayed" which is not only a snobbish, whiny thing to say but completely ignores the fact that Helvetica, Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia, etc. are used much more often. In fact you wouldn't notice Lobster at all except that it replaces the Aria…

Ouch :)

My point is largely that Lobster has a much more defined and recognizable look than classic "Sans" fonts like Arial and Helvetica and "Serif" fonts like Times and Georgia.

The look is recognizable enough that it evokes comparison to other sites, which you may want to consider. It can also break down the fourth wall between your site and it's viewers if they recognize the font. They go "oh, that's lobster, one of google's free fonts" instead of "nice logo" which, again might not be what you're after.

Re: Dear Startups, Lobster is the new Comic Sans

#26

Post by jonnathanson »

ericskiff wrote: post #19
gyardley wrote: post #15

Oy. Comic Sans isn't problematic because everyone uses it, it's problematic because it's a bad font. The kerning alone is reason enough not to use it. http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-you-hate-comic-sans/ By this author's logic we should all stop using Helvetica, too - it's way too common.

I agree that Lobster is a better font than comic sans, but both fonts have particular uses, and they both have a signature look that people recognize. Helvetica, in my opinion, is a fantastic utility. It gets out of the way, and only those who know to look for it notice it.

The genius of Helvetica is that it's styled, but subtle. It "gets out of the way," but not entirely. The common assertion about Helvetica is that it's "clean" and unstylized. But actually, its cleanliness comes from the assertion of a certain style.

On a semi-related note, I highly recommend the documentary "Helvetica," as well as the books about the development of the font. I'm not a font wonk by any means, but I do enjoy design. Anyone with even a passing interest in the subject will get a kick out of the film.

Re: Dear Startups, Lobster is the new Comic Sans

#27

Post by studiofellow »

If anything, Lobster is the new FF Dax. Dax and its siblings were the popular startup branding typefaces a few years back.

And, Comic Sans is not a terrible typeface. It's just terrible for almost every application, except for comic book lettering.

Still, I fail to see why this is a problem. Design trends happen.

Re: Dear Startups, Lobster is the new Comic Sans

#28

Post by dandelany »

Lobster isn't bad, it's just overused at the moment. I might instead say that Lobster is the new Gotham, which has been overused as a header font since Obama used it in his 2008 presidential campaign (see http://flip-design.blogspot.com/2011/01/gotham-most-overused...).
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