Papy...er...those SNL font short films!

These SNL shorts are amazing testimonials to those who put so much (and so little) into the fonts that surround us daily.

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The Saturday Night Live Papyrus font skits, especially the widely shared 2017 digital short starring Ryan Gosling, satirize the infamous overuse of the Papyrus typeface—particularly its appearance in James Cameron’s Avatar logo. In the sketch, Gosling plays a man haunted by the lazy design choice, obsessing over the fact that a billion-dollar franchise relied on a default font that comes pre-installed on most computers. The mock-serious tone, combined with cinematic visuals and dramatic narration, humorously captures the frustration many designers feel toward typographic shortcuts and poor aesthetic decisions.

The sketch resonated well beyond the design community, becoming a viral critique of creative complacency in branding and visual storytelling. It cleverly elevated a seemingly trivial design gripe into a broader commentary on artistic standards in high-budget productions. The popularity of the skit even led to a follow-up in 2022, referencing the release of Avatar: The Way of Water, where the joke continued with the revelation that the updated logo still bore a striking resemblance to Papyrus. These sketches have helped solidify Papyrus as a punchline in pop culture while also highlighting the importance of thoughtful design choices.

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Watching the Details

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It is nice to see fashion-oriented companies getting the technological aspects of their offerings right. Nixon takes the time to custom craft alpha and numeric characters for their "Connect" watch, resulting in characters of character. The delicate line intersection areas in the numbers add distinction and an element of precision to the timepiece.

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