What your favourite FONT says about you – bad news for Comic Sans fans

From the classic Calibri to the quirky Wingdings, computer users have over half a million fonts to choose from. 

Now, a study has revealed what your font choice says about you. 

Experts from Adobe asked over 1,000 participants about their thoughts on 13 of the most popular fonts, including Times New Roman, Arial, Comic Sans, and Verdana. 

The results will come as a relief for fans of Times New Roman, Calibri and Arial. 

But if your go–to font is Comic Sans or Papyrus, the findings might encourage you to change to a different typeface. 

‘Serif fonts, such as Times New Roman or Georgia, are typically characterized by their elegance and are often associated with formality and professionalism,’ Adobe explained. 

‘On the other hand, sans serif fonts, such as Arial or Calibri, are perceived as more casual and approachable with their clean and modern aesthetic.’

So, is it time you gave your font an upgrade? 

For the survey, Adobe asked 1,013 Americans about their opinions on 13 fonts. 

These were Helvetica, Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial, Comic Sans, Roboto, Courier New, Verdana, Impact, Lobster, Georgia, Wingdings, and Papyrus.

The results revealed that Times New Roman – a font first designed back in 1931 – remains the most popular font, chosen by 27 per cent of respondents. 

This was followed by Calibri (16 per cent), Helvetica and Arial (both 12 per cent), and Georgia (eight per cent). 

‘Men were 45% more likely than women to say that their favourite font was Times New Roman,’ Adobe explained. 

In contrast, Wingdings was found to be the ‘cringiest’ font among 55 per cent of respondents. 

Other cringeworthy typefaces included Comic Sans (17 per cent), Papyrus (11 per cent), Lobster (eight per cent), and Impact (three per cent). 

Adobe added: ‘45% feel Wingdings should be retired forever, followed by Comic Sans at 15%.’

If you send a lot of emails, the survey also suggests that you might want to switch to Times New Roman. 

Sixty–four per cent of respondents said this font was associated with a reputable legitimate business, well ahead of Arial (15 per cent), Calibri (eight per cent), Verdana (three per cent), and Roboto (three per cent). 

‘Impact, Lobster, Windgdings came in as the least reputable fonts, with less than 0.5% of people thinking these fonts were acceptable for a business,’ Adobe said. 

Times New Roman also reigns supreme for legibility, ahead of Arial, Calibri, Roboto, and Verdana. 

In addition, the results of the survey found that certain fonts resonate with different generations. 

Gen Z loves Times New Roman the most out of all generations, with more than one in three seeing it as their favourite font. 

In contrast, Gen X and Baby Boomers are 60 per cent more likely to have Arial as their favourite font, when compared to Gen Z and Millennials. 

The news comes shortly after Microsoft replaced Calibri as its default font for the first time in 17 years.

The new default font is Aptos – a sans serif font not too disimiliar to ite predecessor. 

‘Also referred to as Grotesque or Gothic, sans serif often have simple letterforms, even strokes, and they’re easily readable. Aptos, made of varying geometric shapes, is bold, well–defined, directive, and constrained,’ Microsoft explained in a blog. 

‘It articulates many different languages and tones. Stem ends are clean cut.

‘Subtle circular squares within the letters’ contours allow higher legibility, especially at small sizes.’