Designers hate Comic Sans. People keep using it.

Comic Sans is the most mocked typeface. When computers made it possible for anyone to print a sign, millions of people who had never designed anything started using Comic Sans. Graphic designers were furious. They called it an abuse of type, and some of them have been rolling their eyes ever since.

Where this started. Fontdial began with a video essay defending Comic Sans. It made me look at where the font actually shows up, and ask why. Watch the video on Instagram.

But look at where it shows up: a lemonade stand, a lost cat poster, a school bake sale, a get-well card. People are not choosing it by accident. Research on typeface personality shows that people can describe what a font feels like from its shapes alone. They know if a script feels elegant, direct, or whimsical. And they know Comic Sans feels friendly.

People want a friendly font, and for a long time Comic Sans was the only one on the menu.

What if there was a way to make a friendly font that did not make designers cringe?

Version one: six friendly fonts

That question was the first version of this site. Six fonts that were warm on purpose while following the basics of good type: even spacing, clear shapes and open counters. A handful of sliders for weight, width, slant and curves, each with a range that keeps the letters readable. And a way to turn the font you made into a whole family, ready to download.

Friendly is one feeling

Making that tool showed me the real idea was bigger. A bakery sign, a law firm's letterhead, a punk poster and a spreadsheet all want different things from their letters. Friendly is one feeling, and people need all of them. I also noticed that most people start by choosing a direction, and only then polish it with the controls.

Version two: ten feelings

So the starting point changed. Instead of six friendly fonts there are now ten feelings (friendly, playful, clean, elegant, trustworthy, vintage, bold, edgy, handmade and techy) and fifty base fonts to begin from. They are built on different kinds of letters: single-storey and double-storey, humanist, text serif, italic and monospaced. I wrote a standard for what a good base font must do, and measured every font against it.

Fewer controls, not more

A font tool can easily drown you in options. So I measured every slider to see how much it really changed the letters, then cut or merged the ones that did very little. What is left is meant to feel like turning a few good dials, not flying a plane.

Why Fontdial

You dial in a font. Every slider is a dial, and the goal is a site where you can dial in a font for any feeling you can name. The mark is a dial with a typewriter key at its centre. If your feeling is not here yet, use Share feedback and tell me what it is.