Helvetica Flair, Myriad Rounded or Lucida Grande Swash

Type is subtle. Your question is far too broad. So: What kind of fun?

Silly fun? Happy Sunny fun? Snarky Witty fun? Some other kind?

I think that a danger is that a "fun" font could quickly become an irritating font to anyone trying to read an article. That said, maybe something like Pica 10 Pitch.

-=®=-

Fontesque is the funnest face ever. And it has a text version.

Fontesque is the funnest face ever

There is maybe something to that statement...

Careful. Back in the Seventies, when National Lampoon magazine switched from boring fonts (Century Schoolbook for text and Times Extra Bold for headlines) to "funny" fonts (Cooper Oldstyle for text and Gill Sans Extra Bold for headlines), it became less funny. It's like when a comedian laughs at their own jokes. I think the deadpan approach is usually better, though I suppose it depends on the type of humor.

The funniest face ever is the one that makes you laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh.

Do you know what it's like to laugh like that?

Manuskript

Funnest without being too funnest.

Do you know what it’s like to laugh like that?

Of course. I'm just saying that it's the audience (or the readers) who should be laughing, not the performer (or the type). And, for that matter, I've never seen a typeface that made me laugh out loud. At least not because it "looked funny." The only time I can remember a typeface making me laugh is when I received a direct mail come-on personally addressed to me in my own handwriting (Felt Tip Roman).

That’s a bad joke from Airplane 2. The response might have been…

http://www.moviequotes.com/fullquote.cgi?qnum=19081

The only time I can remember a typeface making me laugh is when I received a direct mail come-on personally addressed to me in my own handwriting (Felt Tip Roman).

That's funny.

I was reading through a guide to FontForge and noticed the tag—onum. Made me think a tee shirt reading "onumist" could be really funny. Or maybe not. Sry, for the lame humor.

Heh, I guess it's been a while since I've seen Airplaine 2.

Thanks for the explanation (although, of course, explaining a joke also kills it).

Now, this is really funny: All this time I thought Ben was asking for the funniest font ever. Sorry everyone. Forget everything I said. And I would agree that Fontesque is an extremely fun font (although it is a bit funny, too).

-=®=-

Yes, the train is veering towards the ditch.

This is fun.

http://www.lehni-trueb.ch/Lego+Font/#

This is funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muaAZE0M3LU

that version of Manuskript makes me want to cry. :^(
not fun at all!

House Industries has some fun fonts, Shag, Las Vegas, etc.

http://www.houseind.com/

Yes! House is king of fun!

also...
Mathew Carter’s Ionic is lots of fun for me!!!

Myriad Rounded sounds like a great idea to me... perhaps already in the works considering we have FF Unit Rounded, and FF Din Rounded on the way.

VAG is always fun

Archer is Martha kinda fun

Ronnia is modern and fresh fun

Belizio and Clarendon are traditional fun

Amira is non-distracting fun

Sadgirl is quirky fun

Bryant is soft and thourough fun

Maple is organic jolly fun

Odile is my kind of fun

Omnes is soft and fun

Sauna is fun we have seen many times before but we’re not sure if we are tired of it yet

FB Moderno roman is not fun but the italics are a blast

Neutraface is classy fun whereas Burbank might have the bouncy fun you want

Pink, Orange and Green are too much fun for text

Megano is fun and Vista is fun with the alts on

Preface is fun whereas Fontesque is slapstick

Buccardi is fun, but drinking it is even funner

Tribute is fun, but Filosphia and Mrs. Eaves have sucked fun dry

This has been real fun, I’m going to go walk into traffic now... toodles

Mikey :op

PS... Is your publication FUN PORN?
I ask because Butt magazine is a serious gay mans porn mag with ”articles” kinda of fun and I can only imagine you mentioning it because you competing in a similar market.
I guess that’s your-eyes-roll-in-the-back-of-head-orgasmic-kind-of-fun.

I couldn't agree more with Mr. Simonson. Fonts designed to be fun are completely annoying:

It’s like when a comedian laughs at their own jokes.

The only designed-to-be-fun font that's half-way fun is Comic Sans because it epitomizes the whole stupid notion of a fun font, so much so that you can't help but laugh at it. And I feel a little bit like a broken record on this one, because I've stood up for it many times before here on Typophile: Dr. Suess singlehandedly made Century Schoolbook the funnest font of all time.

And if you really want fun, you don't go the font route. You write it out by hand, comic book style.

We have a whole category of Fun/Wacky fonts and they are not author keyworded, they are hand picked so I can't let this thread pass by without a mention of 'em.

http://www.fontbros.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&keywords=funw...

BTW, I'm working on a font with a lettering artist called Doinky which is Fun++

Stuart :D

What about Ravie?

I actually have a category in FEX for "funny". Some of them are:

Ablefont, Frankly SPoken, Ashley Script, Bad Dog, Bandit, Batmos, Beesknees, Belch, Blockhead, Bloody, Bonehead, Bonkers, lots of House fonts, some stuff from fontdiner, and many many more.

Dude.... I think I have the ultimate answer. Okay maybe not, but check it out! It's fab and a half!

Burbank

http://www.typesupply.com/portfolio/typefaces/burbank/

As interesting as this topic has gotten, I can't help but think that the OP is a fakepost. "Funnest"? Turning down Comic Sans because it has "no italic version"? I'm pretty sure the OP is just messing with us.

That said, the question of a fun text face is an interesting one, and I tend to agree Koppa about Century Schoolbook.

Nope, it’s for real. Turns out this is not for fun, but it’s for sad. :-(

http://www.ben-freeman.com/

He is currently editing the first issue of 'FUN' magazine and
designing a book containing the outcome of his research into
post-war killings in the former Yugoslavia.

While he may be using this fun face for a dramatic contrast the above statement actually sounds like two different projects.

Wow, when I think fun I definitely think post-war killings in the former Yugoslavia.

I'm sure Ben knows what he is doing.

OK, you guys are the bestest ever. Yes, I meant FUN, not FUNNY. And I was serious about Comic Sans. If it came with a full range of weights, small caps and italics I would have used it for shizzle. And the magazine IS separate from the book about Yugoslavia but you got me: the content isn't all that light hearted. It's still fun though. I'm not sure that I agree on the whole comedian laughing at their own joke thing; I think that the typography should reflect the tone of voice or in this case complement it. Having said that, some of the funniest things I have ever read have been set in the most dry type imaginable.

But: this is about fun, not funny, and 'funnest' is a word, I'm pretty sure...

okay... so what font did you choose?

Mikey :-)

For the record, I used American Typewriter. I would have definitely used comic sans if it had a full family. Shame on Microsoft.

Why wouldn't you use faux techniques to extend the range of CS?
For instance, you can create a style sheet with skew for italics, or for small caps, scaling capitals.
I'm not sure if stroke weight for faux small caps can be added in a style sheet.

While faux techniques look tacky for most fonts, in something casual like Comic Sans I doubt they would detract, and may even have a fun quotient of their own.

Is there a pdf of your project somewhere on the internet so we all can take a gander?

Mikey :-)

Comic Sheriff

I would have to say