We probably do not think much about fonts. Most of us can’t recognize the majority of them, let alone name them. However, history has proven that fonts are more important than we think they are.

Fonts have sometimes become symbols of progress and political allegiance. They can also be used to expose fraud or delay court judgments. They have caused centuries-old disputes, brought down governments, and fomented protests and public outrage.

10 A Two-Century-Old Dispute Over A Font Ends After Hitler Intervened

From the 1800s until World War II, Germany was enmeshed in a weird controversy over the use of two fonts: Fraktur and Antiqua.

Fraktur was the major font used in Germany until Antiqua came along in the 16th century. Antiqua had been adopted in the non-German parts of Europe, including France and Italy, but not in Germany. However, German printers used it to print non-German words and maintained Fraktur for German words.

Antiqua started to gain prominence in Germany in the 1800s. Several Germans resisted it because it was the preferred font for several political events, including the Renaissance and the French Revolution. The German resistance to Antiqua became more heated after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo.

Conservative Germans considered Antiqua to be a symbol of the French and deemed its use to be unpatriotic in Germany. Radical Germans supported the adoption of Antiqua because they considered it progressive. Soon, German printers were divided over the two fonts. Printers who used Antiqua were called Altschrift, while those who used Fraktur were called Frakturbund.

The Frakturbund continued to win. In 1911, Germany even banned Antiqua in schools and introduced Sutterlin script in its place. The Nazis found themselves at the center of the heated Fraktur-Antiqua dispute when they got into power. They supported Fraktur until January 1941 when Hitler declared it a Jewish script. So they abandoned it and switched to Antiqua.^[1]

9 A Font Brings Down The Pakistani Prime Minister’s Government

On April 3, 2016, German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung released 11.5 million pages of damaging documents belonging to the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents exposed how Mossack Fonseca set up fake companies to help several high net worth individuals hide money in tax havens.

Several top celebrities, businesspeople, and politicians (including currently serving and past world leaders) were implicated. This included Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Gunnlaugsson resigned the day after the leak, while Sharif managed to hold on for some months.

The Panama Papers revealed that Sharif and his family possibly wired state money through the fake businesses to buy homes in London. Sharif and his family denied the accusations. His daughter, Maryam, even provided documents to prove that the homes were owned by a private business. She claimed that her family only acted as the trustee.

The key document was dated February 2006. However, it was printed in the Calibri font, which was released in 2007. The Sharifs’ attorneys and supporters claimed that Calibri was designed in 2004, which was true. The designer, Lucas De Groot, started work on the font in 2002 and completed it in 2004.^[2]

However, Microsoft only released test versions to a closed group of people before its official 2007 release. According to De Groot, it is unlikely that an unknown and unreleased font would have been used to print official documents in 2006. Nawaz Sharif later resigned after the Pakistani Supreme Court declared that he was not honest enough to remain in office.

8 Telecom Executive Loses Homes After Using The Wrong Font

In December 2017, Gerald McGoey, the chief executive officer of Look Communications, filed for bankruptcy. He was ordered to sell his properties to repay the $5.6 million he owed creditors. These creditors appointed some trustees to audit McGoey’s properties to see what they could lay their hands on.

The trustees found two homes. However, McGoey claimed that the homes belonged to his three children and even provided paperwork as proof. He was soon busted after the documents were revealed to have been printed with fonts that did not exist at the time the supposed trusts were signed.^[3]

One document dating back to 1995 was printed in Cambria, which was designed in 2002. The other paper dated back to 2004, even though it was printed in Calibri. As we mentioned earlier, Calibri only became available in 2007. McGoey’s attorneys later claimed that the couple had made mistakes with the dates but insisted their claims were true. The court decided otherwise.

7 Everyone Hates Comic Sans

Vincent Connare designed Comic Sans in 1994. He made the font for Microsoft Bob, a new program that Microsoft was working on at the time. Microsoft Bob turned the screen of a computer using the Windows 95 operating system into the image of the inside of a home. Users could launch programs by clicking on similar objects in the home.

For instance, clicking on the clock opened the calendar. Clicking on the pen and paper opened Microsoft Word. A dog guided users through the home and spoke in a speech bubble in Times New Roman font. Connare thought that Times New Roman was too serious for the new program, so he created the playful and friendly looking Comic Sans.^[4]

Although Comic Sans never made it into Microsoft Bob, Microsoft released it with Windows 95. The font became popular and was soon used for important and official purposes like tombstones, warning signs, and lifesaving hospital equipment. This whipped up outrage against the font.

Having a playful-looking font on official and important items was a big no-no. It was like having a clown in a business meeting. So the font ended up as the most hated font out there. There is even a movement calling for its ban. Nevertheless, it is still good for children and people with dyslexia.

6 Outrage After IKEA Changes Font

In August 2009, IKEA quietly dumped the trademark Futura font it used in its signage and catalog and switched to Verdana. Unfortunately, customers noticed and started a backlash that we remember today as Verdanagate.

IKEA agreed to the change a few months earlier when executives decided to standardize the fonts they used online and offline. Before then, IKEA used Verdana on its website and Futura on its signage and in its catalog. Futura was not available online at the time, so executives settled for Verdana.

Unfortunately, Verdana was created for online use and flops badly when used offline. It looks unusual when the font size is increased or is printed at a high resolution, which is what IKEA did. This was why it was quickly noticed and generated such negative publicity that IKEA was forced to revert to Futura.^[5]

5 A Money-Saving Font Won’t Save The US Government Any Money

In 2014, Suvir Mirchandani, a 14-year-old student, revealed that the US federal and state governments could save around $467 million a year if they changed the font they used in official documents to Garamond.

Mirchandani made the claim after comparing Garamond with Century Gothic, Comic Sans, and Times New Roman. He discovered that Garamond was thinner and used about 25 percent less ink than the other fonts. He later calculated that US federal and state governments could save $467 million a year if they switched to Garamond.

Mirchandani’s experiment was later determined to be flawed because Garamond is 15 percent smaller than the other fonts at the same size. This means that Garamond would use the same amount of ink as the other fonts if its size was increased to match that of the other fonts. Similarly, other fonts will save the government the same amount of money if their sizes are reduced to match the smaller size of Garamond.

Besides, the US government does most of its printing with printing presses and not with office printers. Mirchandani’s experiment was done with inkjet printers, even though the government also uses laser printers which require toner. Toner is cheaper than inkjet inks, which would affect any cost savings.^[6]

Lastly, the US government does not actually buy ink. Instead, it has deals with other businesses to provide office printing services. These businesses charge based on the pages printed and not the amount of ink used. So the government spends the same amount of money to print a color photograph as it does to print a page with just a single letter on it.

4 Font Size Used To Delay Judgment Over A Controversial Michigan Law

In 2011, Michigan governor Rick Snyder signed a controversial law that allowed the governor to appoint emergency managers to take over the affairs of mayors and city councils in periods of crisis. The law quickly became infamous, causing protests, controversies, and a legal battle.

On one side was Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility that opposed the law. On the other was Stand Up for Democracy that supported the law. The state agreed to call for a referendum in November 2012 to decide if they wanted the law to remain.

Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility sued, asking the Michigan Supreme Court to cancel the referendum because the Stand Up for Democracy movement used a small-sized font in the documents it submitted to request the referendum.

Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility claimed that the small font made the petition illegal. This did not fly with the court, which later ruled that the state could appoint emergency managers.^[7]

3 Controversy After The US Federal Highway Administration Revokes Approval Of A Font For Road Signs

The US Federal Highway Administration approves only two fonts for highway signs. The first is the Highway Gothic typeface that has been in use for over seven decades. The other is Clearview, a newer and supposedly clearer alternative to the Highway Gothic typeface.

The Federal Highway Administration first approved Clearview for use in 2004 after researchers proved that it was clearer than the Highway Gothic typeface. A 1997 test indicated that Clearview was 16 percent more readable at night. A 2001 experiment proved that it increased reading distance by 12 percent on the highway. This meant that drivers could read Clearview 23 meters (74 ft) farther away than they could read Highway Gothic.

However, later tests indicated that Clearview was no better than the Highway Gothic typeface. The supposed clarity was credited to the quality of materials used in making road signs bearing the Clearview font.

There were also concerns that the Federal Highway Administration only approved Clearview for monetary reasons. Town and city councils that opted to use Clearview paid a $175 to $795 licensing fee for the font. The Highway Gothic typeface is available free of charge. Nevertheless, the Federal Highway Administration approved Clearview for use again two years later.^[8]

2 Researcher Gets Funding Approval Rejected For Using Wrong Font

A few years ago, Susannah Maidment, a paleontologist at the Imperial College London, tweeted that her research grant application to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in the UK had been rejected because she submitted it using Calibri.

Apparently, NERC had stringent guidelines and required that grant proposals be submitted in “Arial 11 or other sans serif typeface of equivalent size to Arial 11.” Maidment had used a font that did not fit the guidelines. She claimed that the initial guidelines mentioned “Arial or other sans serif typeface of equivalent size,” which did not ban Calibri.^[9]

NERC later explained that it rejected 4 percent of funding proposals over wrong fonts. The organization said that its font requirement was necessary to ensure that applicants had an even playing field because smaller fonts took up fewer pages and allowed applicants to give more details.

1 Ad Agency In Trouble Over Font

In 2017, Cliff Ross, an advertising agency based in Philadelphia, released 10 new fonts that it felt would resonate with the city. Each font was modeled after a different neighborhood. For instance, the font modeled after Center City, which contains much of Philadelphia’s offices, resembled skyscrapers.

However, the font modeled after North Philly proved controversial. It resembled boards of wood held together with nails. This provoked outrage because it suggested that the African-American–dominated North Philly was filled with shanties. Users called the font everything from offensive to gross and disturbing, forcing Cliff Ross to retract it.^[10]

Although they’re literally at our fingertips, we seldom think of them. However, our word processors’ fonts sometimes have intriguing, even surprising origins, and they’re not always free of controversy and criticism.

Businesses have commissioned some of them. Others have been inspired by cartoon lettering, music, road signs, and puzzles. Still others are based on marketplace needs, requirements imposed by technological devices, or innovations in art, design, and manufacturing. Whatever led to the development of these fonts, the inspirations behind them are, at times, inspirational in themselves.

10 Wingdings

Originally, the weird font that became known as Wingdings was hand-drawn before being digitized, printed, and exhibited at the 1984 Association Typographique Internationale conference in London, England. Microsoft bought the font in 1990, renaming it “Wingdings” and remapping the keyboard layout.

But who would want a collection of these weird symbols and why? At the time the font was invented, incorporating images into text documents was difficult and time-consuming. Graphics libraries were limited, and graphics files were large and depended on hard drives with severe space limitations.

Lucida designers Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes offered their strange font characters as a solution. Lucida Icons, Lucida Arrows, and Lucida Stars supplied ready-made, easy-to-use images that users could easily insert into their documents to add a bit of early 1990s pizzazz.

The weirdest thing about Wingdings, though, wasn’t typing a “Q” and producing the image of an airplane or getting a flag in exchange for a “P.” It was a bizarre controversy generated by its use.^[1]

Conspiracy theorists were convinced that using Wingdings was a way of typing secret messages. One such message was allegedly anti-Semitic. Typing “NYC” resulted in a skull and crossbones, followed by a Star of David, followed by a thumbs-up gesture. Conspiracy theorists suggested that this indicated it was acceptable to kill Jews who lived or worked in New York City.

Microsoft insisted that there was no conspiracy. Rather, the substitution of these particular icons for those letters was the result of mere coincidence. In fact, the characters of the original Lucida font, on which Wingdings is based, were selected from a variety of sources, including ancient gestures, medieval manuscripts, modern inventions. Also, Bigelow and Holmes liked fleurons, which are floral designs based on flowers from their yard.

9 Comic Sans

An Internet campaign against the use of Comic Sans argues that the font is too unsophisticated. It is childish, critics contend, bordering on infantile. Worse yet, its users seem determined to print its characters in bright, primary colors, adding to its childish appearance.

What such critics seem to have forgotten, if they’ve ever known it, is that Comic Sans is supposed to look unsophisticated. It was designed to look childlike, if not childish.

In 1994, its designer, Vincent Connare, thought that the font chosen for Microsoft Bob, a new user-friendly software suite for children, was too sedate for the product. He wanted something more dynamic. Connare was inspired by the lettering of the text he saw in cartoon speech bubbles. Using a program for making fonts, he rounded off the letters, making a simple, fun, new font.^[2]

His font wasn’t selected for the Microsoft Bob package, though, because it didn’t fit the company’s existing grids. Instead, when Microsoft later launched its Movie Maker program, Connare’s font was chosen for the new software.

Subsequently, Comic Sans was included with the Windows 95 operating system, making the font available to the company’s millions of customers. Although reviled by those who don’t appreciate its appearance, Comic Sans remains popular with many and is a favorite among people who work with dyslexic children.

8 Centaur

Over the centuries, font weights were added to existing typefaces. For example, italic and bold weights, which we take for granted today, didn’t exist until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (The weight of a font is determined by a character’s thickness relative to the character’s height. In general, the heavier the weight, the darker the impression created by the typeface.)

English poet and novelist William Morris was so impressed with French engraver Nicolas Jenson’s printing from the late 15th century that Morris sought to revive the font created from that typeface. As a result, he had another font produced for his 19th-century work that imitated Jenson’s earlier typeface.

Morris faced a conundrum, though. Neither bold nor italic font weights existed in Jenson’s time.

Consequently, another 30 years passed before the italic font weight could be added to Centaur. Papal scribe Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi was also a type designer, and he printed several of his works, which included italics based on his own calligraphy. Others also contributed to the creation of italic weights, but he is credited with one of the most elegant and popular versions.

Bold weights appear to have been introduced in 1913 when an international committee met in Paris. During their convention, the committee established “a table of bold sans serif and hairline alphabets in 19th-century style” of various sizes and weights. It became generally accepted and is still used today by mapmakers.^[3]

7 Copperplate Gothic

Despite its name, Copperplate Gothic is not a true Gothic font. Gothic styles lack serifs (small lines protruding from the tops and bottoms of many letters and from the ends of the top bar of the capital “T,” for example).

What’s more unusual about this font, though, is that Frederic Goudy, its designer, created only capital letters for it.^[4] He did that because the font was initially intended only for headings and key words of text.

6 Times New Roman

In 1929, The Times, a British newspaper, commissioned typographer Stanley Morison to design a new font. Created with the assistance of the newspaper’s artist, Victor Lardent, Morrison’s narrow font became popular with printers.

Although it is widely used in a variety of fields, including the legal profession, the staid Times New Roman font is not without its critics. They suggest that the letters are uninspired and stodgy, perhaps reflecting the users’ own lack of imagination.^[5]

Font pundits agree that font selection says something about those who make the choice to use it rather than an alternative.

5 Gabriola

Music inspired the elegant Gabriola font, which is named for a Canadian island. Its designer, John Hudson, was inspired by the idea in music that a melody can be played in a variety of styles without losing its unique character.

This font has eight sets, each in its own style, allowing users to employ it in as many variations.^[6] In addition, the font allows substitutions of characters in various styles to avoid unwanted repetitions of the same kinds of letters.

4 Dyslexie

A dyslexic himself, Dutch designer Christian Boer developed the font Dyslexie to help himself read more easily and more accurately. Dyslexia can make reading and writing difficult because dyslexics tend to transpose or rotate letters in their minds and have difficulty recognizing them.

Boer’s solution was to make the differences in every letter clearer so that the differences stand out better. This makes it easier to distinguish one letter from another.

Boer made letters thicker at the bottom. That way, he didn’t invert them in his mind. By italicizing parts of letters (such as “j”) or enlarging the openings of other letters (such as “a”), he stresses the differences in their appearance.

Boer accomplishes the same result by making some letters (such as “v”) larger than similar-looking letters (such as “w”). These strategies and similar ones have proven to work well for Boer and for dyslexics in general who use Dyslexie.^[7]

3 Trebuchet MS

After he finished his work on Matthew Carter’s Verdana font, Vincent Connare set to work creating the font that came to be known as Trebuchet MS. He was inspired by the style exhibited by US highway signs as well as a number of typefaces. (Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, “typeface” refers to a particular design of type, the metal casts of letters that make ink imprints on paper, whereas “font” refers to the impressions thus imprinted.)

Once he completed his design, Connare needed a name for his new font. The answer to a puzzle question supplied it. The question asked, “Can you make a trebuchet that could launch a person from main campus to the new consumer campus about a mile away?”^[8]

A trebuchet is a medieval weapon capable of launching missiles. Connare, who proposed to “launch words across the Internet” with his new font, considered the image of this engine of war to be appropriate. So he seized its name for his new font.

2 Westminster

Whether by design or accident, some fonts meet technological demands. Leo Maggs created his typeface as a special project for the magazine About the House, which was targeted toward patrons of Covent Garden Opera House.

In 1964 or 1965, he was asked to devise a “futuristic style” for one of the magazine’s articles. To accomplish the task, he needed to create only a few letters. But he finished the rest of the alphabet on his own time, basing his work on the proportions established by Gill Sans, a classic typeface.

Maggs’s font was rejected by Letraset, a typeface manufacturer, as “commercially unviable.”^[9] However, a photo-typesetting company, Photoscript Ltd, accepted Maggs’s design. It proved to be a great success, earning its inventor a series of royalties. In 1993, Maggs licensed Westminster font to Microsoft for a new software package the company was developing.

One reason that Westminster font was so popular is because it was modeled on the account numbers that can be read by machines on bank checks. Therefore, the check-processing machines could read it, which may explain why it was named after the Westminster Bank.

1 Bulmer

Bulmer, one of the fonts marking the transition between the medieval and the modern worlds of typeface,^[10] was designed by William Martin expressly for the purpose of printing the Boydell Shakespeare folio edition.

Bulmer was named for the printing company where Martin worked when he cut the typeface in 1790. It is an update and refinement of the earlier Baskerville typeface which is still in use today.

Gary Pullman lives south of Area 51, which, according to his family and friends, explains “a lot.” His 2016 urban fantasy novel, A Whole World Full of Hurt, available on Amazon.com, was published by The Wild Rose Press. An instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he writes several blogs, one of which is Chillers and Thrillers: A Blog on the Theory and Practice of Writing Horror Fiction.