What is the funnest font?
Ok, I am looking for the most fun font in the world for a new magazine. I’m talking body font, I have already found the funnest headline font. It needs to be legible, versatile and FUN [did I mention that already?].
Here are some that I have turned down:
American Typewriter: Already used by Butt magazine.
Comic Sans: No italic version.
Any suggestions?
Come on people, let’s find the funnest font out there. Best suggestion wins a whole load of fun; don’t ask me how.
































25.Mar.2008 4.06pm
Helvetica Flair, Myriad Rounded or Lucida Grande Swash
25.Mar.2008 4.25pm
Type is subtle. Your question is far too broad. So: What kind of fun?
Silly fun? Happy Sunny fun? Snarky Witty fun? Some other kind?
25.Mar.2008 4.28pm
I think that a danger is that a “fun” font could quickly become an irritating font to anyone trying to read an article. That said, maybe something like Pica 10 Pitch.
-=®=-
25.Mar.2008 4.35pm
Fontesque is the funnest face ever. And it has a text version.
25.Mar.2008 5.02pm
Fontesque is the funnest face ever
There is maybe something to that statement...
25.Mar.2008 5.25pm
Careful. Back in the Seventies, when National Lampoon magazine switched from boring fonts (Century Schoolbook for text and Times Extra Bold for headlines) to “funny” fonts (Cooper Oldstyle for text and Gill Sans Extra Bold for headlines), it became less funny. It’s like when a comedian laughs at their own jokes. I think the deadpan approach is usually better, though I suppose it depends on the type of humor.
25.Mar.2008 5.36pm
The funniest face ever is the one that makes you laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh.
Do you know what it’s like to laugh like that?
25.Mar.2008 5.39pm
Manuskript
Funnest without being too funnest.
25.Mar.2008 5.53pm
Do you know what it’s like to laugh like that?
Of course. I’m just saying that it’s the audience (or the readers) who should be laughing, not the performer (or the type). And, for that matter, I’ve never seen a typeface that made me laugh out loud. At least not because it “looked funny.” The only time I can remember a typeface making me laugh is when I received a direct mail come-on personally addressed to me in my own handwriting (Felt Tip Roman).
25.Mar.2008 6.22pm
That’s a bad joke from Airplane 2. The response might have been…
http://www.moviequotes.com/fullquote.cgi?qnum=19081
The only time I can remember a typeface making me laugh is when I received a direct mail come-on personally addressed to me in my own handwriting (Felt Tip Roman).
That’s funny.
I was reading through a guide to FontForge and noticed the tag—onum. Made me think a tee shirt reading “onumist” could be really funny. Or maybe not. Sry, for the lame humor.
25.Mar.2008 6.32pm
Heh, I guess it’s been a while since I’ve seen Airplaine 2.
Thanks for the explanation (although, of course, explaining a joke also kills it).
25.Mar.2008 6.36pm
Now, this is really funny: All this time I thought Ben was asking for the funniest font ever. Sorry everyone. Forget everything I said. And I would agree that Fontesque is an extremely fun font (although it is a bit funny, too).
25.Mar.2008 6.41pm
-=®=-
25.Mar.2008 6.42pm
Yes, the train is veering towards the ditch.
This is fun.
http://www.lehni-trueb.ch/Lego+Font/#
This is funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muaAZE0M3LU
25.Mar.2008 7.11pm
that version of Manuskript makes me want to cry. :^(
not fun at all!
25.Mar.2008 8.27pm
House Industries has some fun fonts, Shag, Las Vegas, etc.
http://www.houseind.com/
25.Mar.2008 10.43pm
Yes! House is king of fun!
also...
Mathew Carter’s Ionic is lots of fun for me!!!
26.Mar.2008 2.07am
Myriad Rounded sounds like a great idea to me... perhaps already in the works considering we have FF Unit Rounded, and FF Din Rounded on the way.
VAG is always fun
Archer is Martha kinda fun
Ronnia is modern and fresh fun
Belizio and Clarendon are traditional fun
Amira is non-distracting fun
Sadgirl is quirky fun
Bryant is soft and thourough fun
Maple is organic jolly fun
Odile is my kind of fun
Omnes is soft and fun
Sauna is fun we have seen many times before but we’re not sure if we are tired of it yet
FB Moderno roman is not fun but the italics are a blast
Neutraface is classy fun whereas Burbank might have the bouncy fun you want
Pink, Orange and Green are too much fun for text
Megano is fun and Vista is fun with the alts on
Preface is fun whereas Fontesque is slapstick
Buccardi is fun, but drinking it is even funner
Tribute is fun, but Filosphia and Mrs. Eaves have sucked fun dry
This has been real fun, I’m going to go walk into traffic now... toodles
Mikey :op
PS... Is your publication FUN PORN?
I ask because Butt magazine is a serious gay mans porn mag with ”articles” kinda of fun and I can only imagine you mentioning it because you competing in a similar market.
I guess that’s your-eyes-roll-in-the-back-of-head-orgasmic-kind-of-fun.
26.Mar.2008 9.29am
I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Simonson. Fonts designed to be fun are completely annoying:
It’s like when a comedian laughs at their own jokes.
The only designed-to-be-fun font that’s half-way fun is Comic Sans because it epitomizes the whole stupid notion of a fun font, so much so that you can’t help but laugh at it. And I feel a little bit like a broken record on this one, because I’ve stood up for it many times before here on Typophile: Dr. Suess singlehandedly made Century Schoolbook the funnest font of all time.
And if you really want fun, you don’t go the font route. You write it out by hand, comic book style.
27.Mar.2008 7.51am
We have a whole category of Fun/Wacky fonts and they are not author keyworded, they are hand picked so I can’t let this thread pass by without a mention of ’em.
http://www.fontbros.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&keywords=funw...
BTW, I’m working on a font with a lettering artist called Doinky which is Fun++
Stuart :D
28.Mar.2008 7.26am
What about Ravie?
28.Mar.2008 8.02am
I actually have a category in FEX for “funny”. Some of them are:
Ablefont, Frankly SPoken, Ashley Script, Bad Dog, Bandit, Batmos, Beesknees, Belch, Blockhead, Bloody, Bonehead, Bonkers, lots of House fonts, some stuff from fontdiner, and many many more.
28.Mar.2008 11.17am
Dude.... I think I have the ultimate answer. Okay maybe not, but check it out! It’s fab and a half!
Burbank
http://www.typesupply.com/portfolio/typefaces/burbank/
28.Mar.2008 5.32pm
As interesting as this topic has gotten, I can’t help but think that the OP is a fakepost. “Funnest”? Turning down Comic Sans because it has “no italic version”? I’m pretty sure the OP is just messing with us.
That said, the question of a fun text face is an interesting one, and I tend to agree Koppa about Century Schoolbook.
28.Mar.2008 5.40pm
Nope, it’s for real. Turns out this is not for fun, but it’s for sad. :-(
http://www.ben-freeman.com/
28.Mar.2008 5.55pm
He is currently editing the first issue of ’FUN’ magazine and
designing a book containing the outcome of his research into
post-war killings in the former Yugoslavia.
While he may be using this fun face for a dramatic contrast the above statement actually sounds like two different projects.
28.Mar.2008 10.13pm
Wow, when I think fun I definitely think post-war killings in the former Yugoslavia.
29.Mar.2008 5.26pm
I’m sure Ben knows what he is doing.
21.Apr.2008 4.54pm
OK, you guys are the bestest ever. Yes, I meant FUN, not FUNNY. And I was serious about Comic Sans. If it came with a full range of weights, small caps and italics I would have used it for shizzle. And the magazine IS separate from the book about Yugoslavia but you got me: the content isn’t all that light hearted. It’s still fun though. I’m not sure that I agree on the whole comedian laughing at their own joke thing; I think that the typography should reflect the tone of voice or in this case complement it. Having said that, some of the funniest things I have ever read have been set in the most dry type imaginable.
But: this is about fun, not funny, and ’funnest’ is a word, I’m pretty sure...
21.Apr.2008 5.13pm
okay... so what font did you choose?
Mikey :-)