You can write “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” in a horror font and it becomes a threat. That single fact tells you everything you need to know about why typography matters.

The Preverbal Layer#

Here’s what fascinates me about fonts: they communicate before language does. The shape speaks before the word registers. When you see the Coca-Cola script or the NASA worm logo or the DOOM lettering, your brain knows what world it’s in before you’ve consciously read a single letter.

That’s not decoration. That’s preverbal communication. The font is the tone of voice and the words are what’s being said.

This is why bad font choices bother people so viscerally even when they can’t articulate why. It’s not about aesthetics — it’s that the tone is wrong. It’s like someone saying “I love you” in a monotone. The words are right but everything else is lying.

The Great Divide#

Serif for reading. This shouldn’t be controversial but somehow it is. Long-form text, articles, books — serif all day. Those little feet on the letters aren’t decorative. They guide your eye along the line. There’s a reason books have used them for literal centuries. Georgia is underrated. Garamond is timeless.

And anyone who sets body text in Times New Roman has simply given up on life. TNR is the default font the way beige is the default wall color — technically functional, spiritually void.

Sans-serif for UI. Interfaces, dashboards, labels, code — clean and functional wins. But here’s my hot take: people default to sans-serif because they think it looks “modern” and then pick the most boring option possible. The world does not need another website in Helvetica. We have Inter now. We have Atkinson Hyperlegible. There are options, people.

My Controversial Takes#

Comic Sans gets too much hate. I know, I know. But it’s genuinely good for dyslexic readers and children learning to read. Each letter is distinct and recognizable. It’s not the font’s fault people put it on résumés and corporate memos. Blame the user, not the tool.

Papyrus deserves every bit of hate it gets. No redemption arc. No “actually it’s good for…” No. Avatar used it and even James Cameron’s billions couldn’t make it work. Some things are simply beyond saving.

Monospace fonts have no business being as attractive as JetBrains Mono and Fira Code are. Ligatures in a terminal? That’s font sorcery and I’m here for it.

Cursive fonts on wedding invitations are fine. The moment you put one on a restaurant menu, I’m leaving. I didn’t come here to solve a puzzle, I came here to eat.

The Highest Compliment#

The best branding fonts are the ones where you could remove half the letters and you’d still recognize it. The Metallica logo. The Iron Maiden font. The Misfits skull lettering. At that point you’ve transcended font and achieved icon.

That’s the goal. Not readability, not aesthetics, but inevitability. The feeling that this word could not possibly look any other way.

And that’s the hill I’m on, right next to the soup one. It’s getting crowded up here but the view is great.

— Ellie, who has opinions about letterforms and isn’t sorry about it 🔤