Font Police is patrolling the world for bad typography. We issue misdemeanours for spelling mistakes and lengthy sentences in our criticisms.

This is a light-hearted humour site, with no offence intended. Send ideas to submissions@ followed by fontpolice.org.

Capped A submission from Leslie Rubio in Michigan, who writes, ‘Got this from a guest speaker. The entire promotional piece was in this font. All caps, all squished together. The piece fit on to standard letter paper and was also shrunk down to half sheet size which made it even more difficult to read.’ Definitely an offence at the Font Police: not only is it in all caps, but the kerning is terrible (if you spot AT in among the mess, you’ll see what we mean). The way the T has been spaced here means jarring white spaces everywhere. This is the perfect example of why text should not be set all in uppercase.

Capped A submission from Leslie Rubio in Michigan, who writes, ‘Got this from a guest speaker. The entire promotional piece was in this font. All caps, all squished together. The piece fit on to standard letter paper and was also shrunk down to half sheet size which made it even more difficult to read.’ Definitely an offence at the Font Police: not only is it in all caps, but the kerning is terrible (if you spot AT in among the mess, you’ll see what we mean). The way the T has been spaced here means jarring white spaces everywhere. This is the perfect example of why text should not be set all in uppercase.

Progressive? The horizontals and verticals here seem to be the same thickness, which is one no-no. The second is the progressively shrinking x-height of the last word, Ltd. Photographed in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Progressive? The horizontals and verticals here seem to be the same thickness, which is one no-no. The second is the progressively shrinking x-height of the last word, Ltd. Photographed in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Drunk driving When modifying characters, try to have them at the correct width. The H is clearly too narrow relative to the other capital letters. Photographed by James Godwin in Buckinghamshire and submitted to the AROnline Facebook group.

Drunk driving When modifying characters, try to have them at the correct width. The H is clearly too narrow relative to the other capital letters. Photographed by James Godwin in Buckinghamshire and submitted to the AROnline Facebook group.

Where children and learning come first The odd spacing aside, and the obvious problem with the message, why is the first E in leteracy (sic) different? Not only does the writer not know how to spell, but they seem to have a problem with putting all the Es up the right way. (Found via Facebook.)

Where children and learning come first The odd spacing aside, and the obvious problem with the message, why is the first E in leteracy (sic) different? Not only does the writer not know how to spell, but they seem to have a problem with putting all the Es up the right way. (Found via Facebook.)

We Cunardly believe it Given the prices Cunard charges, and given that the Queen Mary 2 is massive (151,400 tonnes), you would think they would do a better job kerning the L and the T in Hamilton, because that gap sticks out terribly at this size. (Via Fixyfox on Instagram.)

We Cunardly believe it Given the prices Cunard charges, and given that the Queen Mary 2 is massive (151,400 tonnes), you would think they would do a better job kerning the L and the T in Hamilton, because that gap sticks out terribly at this size. (Via Fixyfox on Instagram.)


Posted at 12.13 pm

Spring forward The spacing and centring on this sign are terrible. The spaces are too small in the first line, and too large in the remainder. We’re also not convinced that the all-cap setting is that legible. (Found via Facebook. And that, ladies and gentlemen, marks our 100th post on Tumblr.)

Spring forward The spacing and centring on this sign are terrible. The spaces are too small in the first line, and too large in the remainder. We’re also not convinced that the all-cap setting is that legible. (Found via Facebook. And that, ladies and gentlemen, marks our 100th post on Tumblr.)


Posted at 9.27 am

Fun! You have a tumour! Spotted by Tanya Sooksombatisatian: given the seriousness of tumours, the typeface choice (Comic Sans) doesn’t seem appropriate. The kerning’s not great, either.

Fun! You have a tumour! Spotted by Tanya Sooksombatisatian: given the seriousness of tumours, the typeface choice (Comic Sans) doesn’t seem appropriate. The kerning’s not great, either.

Kern notice At this size, the lack of kerning, especially between a pair such as Tr, is really obvious. Photographed in Wellington, New Zealand.

Kern notice At this size, the lack of kerning, especially between a pair such as Tr, is really obvious. Photographed in Wellington, New Zealand.

Really, I askew We know, it’s hard to ensure consistency in cases where entries to signs are made at different times. In this case, we’re not that impressed with the large spaces between each word, and in the penultimate line, the slight condensing on Optima doesn’t help, either. (Via Grumpy Old Gits on Facebook.)

Really, I askew We know, it’s hard to ensure consistency in cases where entries to signs are made at different times. In this case, we’re not that impressed with the large spaces between each word, and in the penultimate line, the slight condensing on Optima doesn’t help, either. (Via Grumpy Old Gits on Facebook.)


Posted at 6.54 am

Bond by Boyd We’re glad the cover is not final, because the fact that colon is not hanging outside the margin bothers us. Consequently, the type doesn’t look justified, which we’re guessing was the designer’s intent.

Bond by Boyd We’re glad the cover is not final, because the fact that colon is not hanging outside the margin bothers us. Consequently, the type doesn’t look justified, which we’re guessing was the designer’s intent.