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Fake Handwriting on Form Letters

29 Jan 2004 by Jason Fried

Is anyone else out there disgusted (or irritated or humored or all of the above) when they receive a form letter in the mail that uses one of those fake handwriting fonts? I know they’re trying to “personalize” the letter, but I find these letters so much more impersonal because they’re trying to fake me out. What’s more impersonal than trying to trick someone? They are insulting the intelligence of the readers — thinking we won’t notice that it wasn’t written by hand. Come on guys, give it up. I’m filing this post under “Customer Experience.”

26 comments so far (Post a Comment)

29 Jan 2004 | Bill Brown said...

I don't care about the letter. It's when they use the fake handwriting font to address the envelope that really frosts me. If I see a handwritten envelope, I assume that someone sent me a letter and open it. When I am instead greeted by a great deal on a mortgage refinance, I feel slighted. It gets me every time, too, which is exactly why they do it.

29 Jan 2004 | mindful_learner said...

I work in the e-learning world and every training department I have ever worked with has adopted Comic Sans, because it's 'fun'. I can't tell you how depressed I get when I get the umpteenth e-mail in purple Comic Sans ending with a smiley.

I think the time has come to break it to them: Comic Sans is not 'fun'. It is the written equivalent of being locked in an elevator with two sales guys and a chat show host :0(

29 Jan 2004 | dmr said...

I've had professionals ask me to design their report covers for executive level staff in Comic Sans! Talk about de-design.

The fake handwriting is bad and typically feels really cheap. I'm really having a hard time looking at letters and figuring out what's a bill and what's junk mail these days. It's really lame when businesses play tricks on potential customers, is that the best sales pitch they've got?

29 Jan 2004 | Jonny Roader said...

"It's when they use the fake handwriting font to address the envelope that really frosts me."

I don't get wound up by 'consumer' issues generally, but this bugs the fuck out of me. I hate the fact that it's so convincing! The fact that the print ink they use is indistinguishable from proper pen ink! The fact that the little imperfections that characterise human handwriting can be imitated so well by a bloody machine!

29 Jan 2004 | Don Schenck said...

When non-techies try to use tech stuff to get an edge, they're typically behind the curve and end up alienating the techies.

But for every one of us, there are 17 people like my neighbor, Raymond, who thinks "Oh wow ... cool ... a handwritten letter from the President of Tupperware!".

Sad to say, this crap works. Until everyone catches on. Then they'll move on to, say, photochopped pictures and such like.

*sigh*

An aside: I recently found a web site where you can create your own font that uses your own handwriting.

29 Jan 2004 | Jay said...

The website mentioned above is www.fontifier.com. It's pretty neat, and I guess it's related to this post since it will make it that much easier for people to fake a handwritten note.

29 Jan 2004 | Kristen said...

Hey, has anyone used the fontifier thing and noticed a problem with the spacing after the lowercase letter "p"? I've resubmitted my handwriting twice and the p has had about two ens' worth of space after it both times. I've checked the grid to see if there are any artifacts that might be throwing off the scan, but I don't see anything.

Just wondering.

29 Jan 2004 | Richard Bird said...

The problem is: Everything "important" now is disguised as something friendly in order to be less intimidating or seem more accessible... While everything "trivial" is disguised as something important in order to get attention.

29 Jan 2004 | Mark Fusco said...

...recently found a web site where you can create your own font that uses your own handwriting.

Macromedia has been selling Fontographer, a software program that creates fonts for years.

In fact, its probably what Fontifier uses.

29 Jan 2004 | Darrel said...

You people read the form letters that you get in the mail?

Mark: Fontographer has dead in its grave for almost a decade now. FontLab seems to be the tool of choice these days: http://www.font.to/

29 Jan 2004 | Benjy said...

Even more egregious than the fake handwriting font is when they then print the signature in blue ink! Oh, now you've got me believing that the CEO of some credit card company has personally written me to tell me about some great new promotional interest rate if I transfer balances from other cards! I'm sure he's so concerned with my financial well being he's taking time from his busy day to write me because I am so important and special.

29 Jan 2004 | Mark Fusco said...

...Fontographer has dead in its grave for almost a decade now

Hey, I never claimed it was MM's blockbuster selling software package - just that they've had it for years - and it's been about 8 years since I used it.

It's apparently not TOO dead to MM if their still asking $349 for it.

...Even more egregious than the fake handwriting font is when they then print the signature in blue ink...

Having a computer generated or scanned in signature doesn't bother me at all. However, I feel that having content addressed or written to me in comic sans is an insult to my intelligence - not "fun."

29 Jan 2004 | Mark Fusco said...

On a related issue - I have a few people who have their signatures scanned into their email - what do you think about that?

29 Jan 2004 | Justin said...

When I hear someone say "cool, a handwritten letter from the CEO of debts-R-us visa gold", I just ask them if they've ever wondered how the CEO's of major corporations avoid severe carpal-tunnel after spending years writing all those personalized letters for bulk mailing?

29 Jan 2004 | pb said...

Anyone receive the snail mail spam that comes in an type-written envelope with real stamp containing hand-written post-it signed by the versatile "J" on a magazine page describing some terrific management book?

I thought that was pretty clever...at first.

29 Jan 2004 | Mark Fusco said...

...like my neighbor, Raymond, who thinks "Oh wow ... cool ... a handwritten letter...

...When I hear someone say "cool, a handwritten letter from the CEO of debts-R-us visa gold...

May I suggest that ya'll might want to look into changing your social circle before your heads explode from overexposure to stupidity.

29 Jan 2004 | Don Schenck said...

You are, of course, right, Mark. I *SHOULD* MOVE since I have a stupid neighbor. Brilliant idea.

29 Jan 2004 | Don Schenck said...

P.S. Besides, Mark ... I would rather think MY NEIGHBOR should move since HE has a stupid neighbor.

Uh ... errrr ... oops!? :-)

29 Jan 2004 | Mark Fusco said...

Move? When did I imply you had to move?

Perhaps you should just ask your brother where the less ignorant people are in your neighborhood ;)

29 Jan 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Mark -- they all moved away from me!

:-)

29 Jan 2004 | Bill Brown said...

Don: Not saying anything but maybe it's you.

29 Jan 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Bill, I wish I was smart enough to catch your drift.

:)

30 Jan 2004 | Antoine Caillet said...

Just found this related fact : 1892 - Sears, Roebuck & Co. mails out 8,000 post cards with imitation handwriting across the country. 2,000 orders are received directly from this promotional campaign. (source: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa). A good old trick !

31 Jan 2004 | Brian Hess said...

They are insulting the intelligence of the readers thinking we wont notice that it wasnt written by hand.

I'm currently recovering from two years in the direct mail business, and I can tell you from personal experience that the reason direct mailers do that is because it works.

A package with the fake handwriting or underlining will get a better response than the same package without it.

Sad but true; for every one recipient who is "on" to the gimmick, there are 10 who apparently don't care. :-)

You'll love this one, too. There are now shops that will take your direct mail package and have it personalized by a real person. That is, the shop has a bunch of people -- typically, folks like moms and students who can work odd hours -- who will write out a personal note on the letter by hand. The implication is that the note was written by the sender of the letter, which of course it wasn't. But it was written by hand. ;-)

04 Feb 2004 | Alfredo said...

personalized e-mails are very user unfriendly! what else we might ask for in these tech world?

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