Have you ever ridden a Chicago elevator that groaned a little too loud or jerked a little too hard? Maybe to reassure yourself, you looked at the inspection certificate, but what you found was even more concerning: not the inspection date, but the font of just a few words on the document.
The line in question is toward the top left corner of the page. It reads, “This certifies that, I have, [ON THIS DATE] inspected the elevator at [ADDRESS].”
The words “this certifies that” are in Comic Sans. Yes, the font used for lemonade stands is used on an official city document. But Comic Sans doesn’t appear on every inspection certificate.
Why would the city of Chicago use what’s arguably the most unserious font for a serious document? And why just three words?
Designers may choose a font to convey a certain tone to their readers. But in this case, it may offer a peek into the technological backend of local government. It might also be an indicator for requesting an elevator inspection.
What’s the big deal with Comic Sans?
If a font itself could be a meme, Comic Sans would be it. More often than not, it’s used to convey sarcasm. So why would the city use it on an official document?
Comic Sans didn’t always carry this reputation. In 1994, Microsoft wanted a new font for its desktop program called Microsoft Bob. According to company designer Vincent Connare, the font they were initially using, Times New Roman, did not match the relaxed vibe they were going for.
Drawing on inspiration from comic books, Connare designed Comic Sans to feel friendly, casual and easygoing.
As home computers grew in popularity throughout the 1990s, Comic Sans and other design tools became more accessible.
“ This typeface being widely available to the public was one of the reasons why it got so widely adopted,” said Lee Zelenak, designer and lecturer at the DePaul University School of Design. “ But when you have this democratization of design and everyone can be a designer, you lose a little bit of that control over what they’re gonna use it for.”
According to Thomas Quinn, vice president of the Society for Typographic Arts, a font choice is like choosing your tone of voice.
“You can be either very official [or] you can be fun,” he said. “You would talk to a child differently than you would talk if you were giving an important speech.”
Why so (not) serious?
For years, users across the r/Chicago subreddit have wondered about the font choice on the city’s elevator certificate of inspection, trying to figure out how and when the Comic Sans appeared.
Redditors have identified the Lori Lightfoot administration as having the most instances of the Comic Sans certificates, but they also noticed additional standout fonts.
Each mayoral administration seems to have its own version of the certificate: italicized Corsiva for Rahm Emanuel, Comic Sans for Lightfoot, Segoe Script for Brandon Johnson.
One Reddit user posted a photo of a certificate from the early 2000s, during the Richard M. Daley years. Even then, the phrase “This certifies that” is in a unique font, a much more official-looking typeface called Blackletter.
Could the switch in typefaces be a few elevator inspectors pulling a prank? According to the city’s Department of Buildings, which oversees all things elevators, including inspecting and issuing certificates, no.
The agency said elevator inspection certificates are all system-generated. Whatever is causing the font to change is happening on the technological backend, which means the city’s central IT department has the answer.
It appears the quirky font choice happened when the city migrated old software to different servers, according to Grant Ulrich, managing deputy commissioner at the Department of Buildings.
“If the font is not installed with this really old software, it picks the font with the next alphabetical name in the list of whatever fonts are available on that server,” Ulrich said. “So this was not a choice. It was a ‘find the next best option’ decision made by a computer.”
But the theory isn’t perfect. From the Daley era to the current administration, the fonts go from Blackletter to Corsiva, then Comic Sans and then Segoe Script, respectively — skipping over a number of options in between.
As for the fact that it’s only three words, “This certifies that,” with a different font than the rest of the document?
Ulrich said that’s most likely attributed to a former city employee who is no longer around. (Typical workplace move, to blame a predecessor for the status quo.)
So if Comic Sans signals an inspection from the previous mayoral administration, should that be a concern? The Department of Buildings said no; it could simply mean the landlord or property manager may not have physically updated the certificate.
However, the elevator may still be due for an inspection. For that, call 311 or submit a service request online.
The Comic Sans certificates are still out there in elevators all across the city, but those quirky fonts may soon be a thing of the past. If fonts are one way to convey a certain tone, the city wants to convey safety.
“ I think now this has been brought to our attention, it probably will go back to being something a little more boring for a little while,” Ulrich said.
Sofi LaLonde is a freelance journalist and producer. Follow her on BlueSky at @sofilalonde.bsky.social.
More about our question-askers
Emma Nippe is an economist living in Albany Park. She is a self-described architecture and design nerd, which is one of the reasons why she loves living in Chicago. She couldn’t help but wonder why a city known for its skyscrapers, aka buildings that need elevators, would have such poorly designed inspection certificates.
Emma first started noticing these certificates after traveling a lot for work. She often found herself in non-luxurious, design oriented cities. But they still have well-formatted certificates.
“ And these places have elevator inspection certificates that are top of the line, like graphic design minded, all single font, beautiful serif,” she said. “ To come back to Chicago, a city again, known for its architecture and its design, that no one has noticed this…. It’s just baffling to me.”
Harrison Pious is a salesperson living in Logan Square. He is, generally speaking, not a fan of elevators, so he often checks the elevator certificates for inspection dates. Once he noticed the Comic Sans on the certificate, he saw it everywhere.
Harrison appreciates that he wasn’t the only person who noticed this.
”It makes me feel far less crazy that I wasn’t the only person both noticing and bothered by it,” he said.
Over time, though, the font has grown on him. And he may miss it when it’s gone. “I’ve also kind of grown to like it, in a really perverse way,” he said. “It’s something so quirky in Chicago that, of course we would have something like this.”