Technolandy

Day 121 (of 2025/26) – Fonts Matter Inspired by Elle Cordova (@ellecordova)

Somewhere along the way, the entire education system quietly agreed that the official font of learning would be Times New Roman, size 12.
No vote. No debate. Just… academic gravity.

But today I was reminded that fonts might be doing something much more interesting than formatting text.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16xm6nV5DM/?mibextid=wwXIfr

So many choices, yet we still default to a preset expectation… when there are so many choices!

My youngest daughter summed up fonts better than any style guide when she described one of her professors simply as:
“You, but in a different font.”

I know some people yearn for the old days when everyone used the same writing style. Pen on paper. One approach for all.

Though even then, some people wrote in what felt like beautiful Helvetica, while others of us were apparently writing in WingDings.

The video share also reminds us older educators that there are things worth being mindful of. Fonts, like handwriting, can be an expression of personality – in all the best ways (aka – all legible!!)

So we can debate whether words on a page should be cursive, or whether printing works just as well. At the same time, if we want young people to have delightful signatures later in life (mine receives two reviews: awesome and awful), we probably need to give them opportunities to practice. I loved doing little standalone lessons on how to sign your name (regardless of grade – it’s fun to experiment and see what fits…)

Many of us wish social media offered more font choices. I will continue to defend Comic Sans. One of the most readable fonts for dyslexic brains, and frankly it deserves official recognition as the font of sarcasm.

Oddly enough, I’m also okay with practicing things like cursive. Not as a mandate, but as an option. Even as a calming activity.

I’ve also grown more comfortable letting students explore the dropdown menu of fonts. (Though I remain quietly biased against Zephyr.)

After all, the way we write has always reflected who we are. Everyone’s handwriting looks different.

So why shouldn’t our typed words reflect that too?

The Monotype report is also fascinating:
https://www.monotype.com/generational-attitudes-to-type-survey

It looks at:

generational views of fonts

time spent crafting posts with text elements

frustration with limited font choices

and the search for the “right” font

Handwriting, typing, cursive, Comic Sans…

In the end it’s all the same question:

What does your voice look like on the page?