General Lettering Discussion

[Jim_Campbell]

The Revenge of Comic Sans: New research suggests that less-legible, less-elegant fonts might actually promote better recall of information.

As soon as I heard that reported on the Today programme a few days ago, I know someone would say "Aha! Comic Sans! I told you so!"

The thing is, I've never argued that Comic Sans should be rejected because it's not readable. Quite clearly, it is readable, which means that this argument doesn't actually apply to Comic Sans. I've always argued that Comic Sans should be rejected because it's fucking ugly and amateurish. The kerning, in particular, is appalling. It's aesthetically unpleasing, it's not illegible.

Cheers

Jim

[M.I.K.]

Well, yes. I thought the whole point of comic sans was its legibility?

[Jim_Campbell]

Well, yes. I thought the whole point of comic sans was its legibility?

If you're addressing me, can I ask whether you've read the linked article?

Cheers

Jim

[chilipenguin]

The theory in the article seems sound to me apart from the example of Comic Sans. CS is a very legible (if ugly) font so surely something like a cursive font would be less legible and thus more useful in this regard?

[HdE]

Confession time:

I've been known to use Comic Sans. Seriously - it has its uses!

I fully agree that it's a bit unsightly, and I've never used it as a straight-out font for comics work. But I do occasionally use it as a fix for instances where I'm called upon to use the odd lower case letter, for names like McManus, McCarthy, that sort of thing - even the little 'd' in HdE.

In all other instances, i'd say 'take that dog out and shoot it', though. And Jim's right, the kerning is awful.

[M.I.K.]

If you're addressing me, can I ask whether you've read the linked article?

Not really and yes, in that order. Just think it's bizarre that they used comic sans as an example when the blatantly obvious reason its used so widely is because its the exact opposite of what they're saying it is.

[chilipenguin]

Gah! Can anyone tell me how to stop these bloody lines from appearing when I export pages as tiffs? Since moving over to my new laptop, it's started doing it and for the life of me, I can't make it stop.




The lines are not in the original art files. They seem to be cropping up in the export process. For clarity, here are the export settings. Files are being exported in CMYK and are destined for print.



Help!

[Jim_Campbell]

Have you tried a different anti-aliasing setting? Also: are they visible in Photoshop if you zoom in on the exported TIFF?

Cheers

Jim

[SuperSurfer]

Not fully familiar with that dialogue box.

Are you exporting from a layered file?

I prefer to flatten files, adjust the resolution within Photoshop and then save as a tiff.

If you've pasted those speech bubbles from Illustrator, have you tried rasterizing them before saving as a tiff.

But be sure to save as or have a safe duplicate file. I've made the mistake many a time of flattening files and losing the layered version.

[chilipenguin]

The first batch I exported were done without converting the text to outlines or flattening. It also had no anti-aliasing turned on.

This batch have the text converted to outlines and the text anti-aliasing option selected.

Oh, and they do show up when viewed in PS. The first batch were much more visible though.

[Jim_Campbell]

Oh, and they do show up when viewed in PS. The first batch were much more visible though.

OK... next question: have you checked the original files of the placed images? Open the artwork in Photoshop and make sure that it's a flattened TIFF. Delete any additional channels that may be in there. Re-save and then delete the artwork on your lettering file and place the new artwork file.

Cheers!

Jim

[chilipenguin]

Jim - I went back and made sure the original TIFF was flattened, created a new file which I then imported into AI. I'm still getting the same issue. Weirdly, the lines seem to be appearing in the same places, and when I experimented by moving the balloons slightly, the lines remain stationary. I just don't understand it. Other files I have worked on don't seem to have the same issues...

[The Legendary Shark]

Corrupt file/layer?

[chilipenguin]

After going back and checking, it has been happening with other files since I started using my new laptop. I'm going to check out the update situation with my version of Illustrator and see if that solves anything.

[chilipenguin]

Haud the bus (as they say here in the frozen North)! After installing updates, lo and behold, all the lines have gone. Thank Grudd for that!