It’s not just me. I’m only one typography snob in a discipline full of typography snobs. As you are assembling portfolios and hoping for that cool internship or swanky job after graduation, these are the fonts that will have Art Directors shuffling your application to the bottom of the pile. I’m not kidding about this, ask around. The following fonts can be extremely hazardous to the launch of your career. They are trite, easy solutions that reek of unprofessional standards, and more importantly, a fundamental disconnect with the history of design.
Using any of the following in your portfolio is the portfolio equivalent of forgetting to wear pants to a job interview:
- Comic Sans (instant professional death)
- Chalkboard (see Comic Sans)
- Apple Casual (see Chalkboard)
- Apple Chancery (even Apple is capable of making rubbish)
- Brush Script (only good for Pawn Shops and Used Car Dealers)
- Curlz MT (like, totally, for sure)
- Herculanum (the Emperor’s new steaming pile of @#$%)
- Lucida Calligraphy (Lucida is to Calligraphy as head lice is to dating)
- Lucida Handwriting (see above, add open sores to the lice)
- Marker Felt (see Chalkboard)
- Mistral (see Brush Script, and add “Nail Salons” to the list)
- Papyrus (discovering this in a portfolio is like discovering your fiancée wets the bed)
- Zapfino (nothing says “I have no idea what I’m doing” like out of control descenders)
One of the real sins of using any of the above fonts is that is betrays the curiosity and creativity the designer is supposed to explore. It tells a prospective employer that you could not be bothered to look beyond the default free crap installed on your system. Granted, early in your education you might have used these fonts. However, they should be worked out of your portfolio fairly quickly.
As much as this reads like an admonition, I assure you this is a public service announcement.