Not many people like the Comic Sans font. It doesn't serve its intended purpose — lettering for comics — and it looks terrible when used in signs and memos. For some reason, it has persisted. My theory is that the name is appealing, and that people turn to it when they want a casual "fun" font for a birthday party invitation.
A Japanese designer, Toshi Omagari, used Comic Sans as the inspiration for his font, Comic Code, which he recommends, believe it or not, for programming.
From his website:
Comic Code is a monospaced adaptation of the most infamous yet most popular casual font. Designed specifically for programming as the name suggests, which is a corner of typography that involves intensive typing that feels more akin to handwriting than typesetting, this typeface took inspirations from friendly characteristics and low-resolution legibility of Comic Sans. It is an unapologetic admittance of Comic Sans's positives, and a literal manifestation of "code like nobody's watching".
Comic Sans is definitely not devoid of criticism; poor outline and spacing qualities stick out to me, which I addressed in Comic Code while respecting the same design intention. While others may have issues with the fundamental concept itself, I see it as a positive. Let's face it; sometimes, professional appearance is exactly what you don't want. Comic Sans resonates because it doesn't talk down to you while making its message clearly heard with legible letters (not saying Comic Code is illegible tho). It is my wish to make codes look less intimidating to humans, including those with dyslexia. Speaking of which, while I didn't necessarily intend while making it, Comic Code seems to perform just as effectively for dyslexic readers as Comic Sans, judging by the response.
Comic Code is available for purchase. Alternately, you can get a free fork of the font, called Comic Mono, here.
