Categories / Inspiration

The Story Behind Papyrus, The Font Everyone Hates

Kevin Whipps Last updated: April 10, 2024 · 2 min read

In the hall of shame for fonts, we all know which one stands on top: Comic Sans. It is arguably by far the most reviled font out there. But if there is a font that falls in second place – and a close second, at that – it would be Papyrus. Those that don’t know it by name will certainly remember its use in the James Cameron movie, Avatar, where a variation of the font was used on the posters, and the font itself was used in the captioned dialogue. Well, if you want to know more about the man who created the legendary typeface, we’ve got some info for you.


OK, technically, it’s Fast Co. Design with the scoop, but let’s just run with it. The man in question is Chris Costello, and he created Papyrus in 1982. And how much did he sell it for? About $2,500 in today’s dollars, so in other words, not as much as he probably should’ve seen. Oh, and he was only 23 at the time.



He was working at an agency, and since he had some downtime, he started playing around with some ideas. Here’s how he puts it:

“I was thinking a lot about the Middle East, then, and Biblical Times, so I was drawing a lot of ligatures and letters with hairline arrangements.”

And, after some tweaking, he had Papyrus.
Obviously there’s more to the story, and it deserves a read over at Fast Co. Design. Suffice it to say, Papyrus may not have been an immediate success, but once it became a PostScript font in the mid-1990s, well, it was off to the races from there.


Kevin Whipps is a writer and editor based in Phoenix, Arizona. When he’s not working on one of the many writing projects in his queue, he’s designing stickers with his wife at Whipps Sticker Co.

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About the Author
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Kevin Whipps

Hi! My name is Kevin Whipps, and I'm a writer and editor based in Phoenix, Arizona. When I'm not working taking pictures of old cars and trucks, I'm either writing articles for Creative Market or hawking stickers at Whipps Sticker Co.

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9 Comments
  • Thanks for the background information with very interesting visuals - its good to know the why's and wherefore's of a font - even if its deemed "unpopular" by the experts ;-) 9 years ago
  • Some of those variations the guy had actually looked good ... in the context of what he had in mind. Like on "The Holy Bible" or "Jerusalem" the font makes a little more sense, that and the shapes he played with at first were much better than the ones he chose for the final. Like, what's with the "E" where the center line goes further than the top ... what gives? The dude should have stuck with what he started with, then it would have been a so-so, genre font, instead of the over-hated whatever it is now. 9 years ago
  • I like this kind of story about a font's background. Besides, I always liked Papyrus. It just suffered from popularity abuse - kinda like leg warmers and big hair in the 80's. 9 years ago
  • ...Everyone hates except for @Chris Williams. 9 years ago
  • I remember using Papyrus for an entire brochure design in grade school (XD) but I probably wouldn't pick it for a project (ever again). I do have a new appreciation for it after this though, and it does fit the Holy Land / Biblical theme he had in mind. The Fast Co. article was worth the read :) Honestly, kudos to Mr. Costello, who was actually designing fonts at 23 (an age where I was only dreaming of designing a font.) Pretty awesome! :) Thanks for sharing. 9 years ago
  • Everyone? No. Just some who call themselves 'expert'. If 'everyone' really hated it it wouldn't popular! 9 years ago
  • It's popular because people think it gives a slightly "upper class" and pretentious feel to whatever menu or signage they put it on. All I see is putting lipstick on a pig. "Pass" 9 years ago
  • It's one of those less ordinary looking fonts, like comic sans, that gets bundled in with software and OS fonts so that a person who has no clue how to install a new font has it on their machine and so, they over-use it because they don't have other options. I think that's the reason some people hate it, because it's been overused like comic sans. There is a person in my life who has created whole multi-page documents using only Papyrus. This is also the person who has no idea which adapter to use to connect something to is Macbook. 9 years ago
  • I'm just here for the dry transfer sheets! Haven't seen those in a good, long while. 9 years ago