7 Overused Fonts You Should Avoid At All Times

We live in a world where we see typography everywhere. In fact, you should be able to see typography from wherever you are. It is something that we see on a daily basis, either it's a signage of your local dairy or the magazine you are reading. Type is powerful... when used properly of course.

Now I cannot stress enough with how many bad typography there are out there, but I can show you fonts that you should definitely avoid at all cost due to them being way too overused... or just plain ugly. You be the judge.

Font Crime #7 - Hobo Std

Yes... yes it does. Our unlucky font crime number seven goes to "Hobo Std". Feel free to join a Tumblr page on "I Hate Hobo".

Font Crime #6 - Brush Script MT

This handwritten typeface will not make things pretty for you. Designed in 1942 by Robert E. Smith.

"Brush Script" was rated #5 in "The 8 Worst Fonts In The World" list in Simon Garfield's 2010 book (Sourced from Wikipedia). Can you blame him? This is everyone's go to font for brochures, posters etc.... *cringe*.

Font Crime #5 - Times New Roman

"Times New Roman" is too recognizable. The fact that it is a default font, shows that people are "unwilling" to change to another font which gives the impression of not putting any effort into the design. Now can everyone go to their CV and change their font. Thank you. I rest my case.

Font Crime #4 - Jokerman

Oh Jokerman. Until today, I still can't find anything funny about you. Our font crime number four goes to "Jokerman". Designed by British designer Andrew Smith in 1995 as a... joke? We're not quite sure to be honest, but we do know that this is one tacky font that you should definitely avoid using. We stumbled across Steve Lovelace's article on "Famous Logos in Jokerman Font" which we think you should definitely check out.

Font Crime #3 - Bleeding Cowboys

Our font crime number three goes to "Bleeding Cowboys". Designed by Segment Designs in 2007, who just so happens to be the same designers who designed one of my favourite fonts "Birth of a Hero". You may have seen this font on a lot of music bands t-shirts and posters. Yes... this font has been overused by many. I was told never to use this by my tutor from college, and for good reasons. This font has also got its own Facebook page called "People for the Destruction of the Bleeding Cowboy Font".

Font Crime #2 - Papyrus

Designed by Chris Costello in 1982 and it is widely available for everyone... sadly. Yes, our font crime number two goes to "Papyrus". This font got widely popular because it looks antique and somewhat gives the "ancient" feel to it. No wonder it was used on the multi million dollar movie "Avatar". There is an article by Gizmodo on "I Spent $300 Million on This Movie and All I Got Were These Lousy Papyrus Subtitles". Even the designer Chris Costello himself criticized the font for being overused (sourced from Wikipedia).

Font Crime #1 - Comic Sans MS

You probably guessed that the number one font crime would be none other than "Comic Sans MS". Designed in 1994 by Vincent Connare and released by Microsoft Corporation. This font quickly became popular because it looks "friendly" and "kid-like". It spiraled from there and people started to use it for all the wrong reasons like signages, important documents and God forbids... their resumes. There is even a whole website based on Comic Sans Criminal... for those who needs help. Need we say more?

Well, this article was particularly painful to write but we hope that you have learnt a thing or seven things on fonts to avoid next time you decide to design anything. Otherwise, leave it to the professionals :)

Here's a little something I took from a Lotto shop in Christchurch, New Zealand. Breaking all the font crimes in one go. Enjoy!