In Defense of Papyrus

This morning's crawl through Twitter turned up a link to Papyrus Watch.

People who are about fonts hold Papyrus in much the same esteem and people who care about books hold Dan Brown. It's ugly, cheap, and everywhere. It's the cliché font of alternative medicine, Japanese takeaway, and wildlife documentaries.

There are some hideous examples of using the font on Papyrus Watch. But there are a few that made me think "Actually, that's not too bad..." (see linked examples above).

I agreed it's overused. It comes standard with Microsoft Office. Of course people are going to use it. But why Papyrus?

II think it's actually quite a well designed font. It's clear and easy to read. It has a natural, organic texture. It evokes a mood: warmth, humanity, the natural world.

The proportions of some the characters are a bit odd, though. And it is a massive cliché.

So what are the alternatives?

Googling turned up this helpful page: Free Alternatives to Microsoft Fonts Part 1: Papyrus with eight options. They're all nice fonts, but many of them might be a bit too cartoony to use a corporate logo. Film Cryptic is probably the closest to Papyrus without actually being Papyrus.

A different message board suggested Plato, and I quite like the look of that. you have to pay for it, though.

Anyone else have some good suggestions?

...

We went out the final Gulag last night. My feet were killing me, so I took some pain-killers. And then I drank absinthe.

That's the only explanation I can think of for why I'm posting about fonts.