As a graphic designer - fonts are a big part of my life. I think about them a lot. When I see a logo, I can often identify which font was used to create it. When I design a logo, I try many fonts and variations. I don't like the font I use to be so obviously specific so that people just see the font before what it says.
A few years ago a sketch on Saturday Night Live cracked me up because it was about exactly this. A design with an obvious font that is so overused - it's become almost universally hated by designers. The offending font is Papyrus. Click the image below to see the full skit on YouTube.
For years my sister and I have joked about papyrus so often that we have a shared photo album we upload to when we see it used anywhere. It has many more photos than it should. One such place is less than three blocks from my house. Just...no.
The joke continues with my kid as well. They always suggest I use papyrus in designs and I recall that I actually DID design a logo with papyrus early in my career. I fell into the same trap as the Avatar designer. Like a thoughtless child. But then recently, I discovered that papyrus had gone under my radar somehow. Lo and behold the logo for a beloved movie I JUST realized contains the offensive font. I can't even.
