THOU SHALL NOT USE COMIC SANS

Fascinating, highly amusing and very useful book for anyone working in graphic design. (Review by Caroline Smart)

Sean Adams, Stefan G Bucher, John Foster and Tony Seddon make up a group of four designers who have provided “365 Graphic Design Commandments” in their fascinating – and often highly amusing - Thou Shall Not Use Comic Sans”.

This publication will be of invaluable use to those starting off in graphic design while experienced designers will surely enjoy the light-hearted approach of the advice.

Stefan G Bucher’s foreword sets the mood with his disclosure that he was a design school dropout and lasted all of four weeks in typography class. This is followed by the first comment, from which the book takes its title. Comic Sans is described as “arguably the most inappropriately used typeface in history after its first appearance in 1995.”

In the following pages, each allocated to either a “do” or a “don’t”, advice is presented in a forthright fashion. For instance: Boring! Thou shall accept that Times New Roman has its uses” deals with the typeface that was designed for The Times newspaper in 1931. However, the group believes that “ ...it’s totally ubiquitous so has lost its character”.

Other memorable “commandments” include learning about the history and classification of typography, checking your design on the printout rather than on the screen. Further advice is to follow the “less is more” adage”: Thou shall follow Coco Chanel’s advice, ‘”When accessorising always take off the last thing you put on”.

Some of the headings read: Thou shall not overstyle headings; Thou shall not add two spaces after a full stop; Thou shall learn the differences between a typeface and a font; Thou shall not hyphenate words of less than seven characters, and Thou shall not design in PowerPoint.

Definite rulings are to use spell-check always but not to rely solely on it - rather have a good quality dictionary as your final resource. Never employ a web developer who has a bad website and always carefully consider the political content of all image choices. Always dress for work according to your client’s or employer’s expectations and never pretend you know more about a client’s business than they do. Count to ten when a client angers you before opening your mouth and - very importantly – do not work for free.

Designers should learn how to group colours into hot and cold groups and use colour to create calm. Beige is described as “like a silent killer” and designers are urged not to retreat to its “safe, quiet and deadly world”!

Illustrations form a major part of the book and the ironic mood is seen in Thou shall only use as many columns as you genuinely need, which depicts a typical Roman coliseum styled edifice with masses of stone columns.

Thou Shall Not Use Comic Sans” is printed on good quality paper in a handy user-friendly size with the various sections identified with their own colour. Recommended retail price is R220. ISBN 978-1-77022-427-8 – Caroline Smart