I cannot hold my peace.

For a long time, I have wanted to blog about something I feel strongly about, but I have restrained myself for fear of offending the majority of my readership. But now, after having watched The Office last night, I feel that it is time to let my opinion be heard.

On the Office, we saw that Jan has started a candle company. And I was so pleased to see that the set people chose to use Papyrus as Jan's candle font.

They understand.

What do they understand? They understand that everyone in the world uses Papyrus and that it's everyone's go-to font if they want to design something "cool." I have seen so much Papyrus in the last several years that it triggers an eye twitch every time I see it.

I can forgive non-designers who choose to use the font. I may make fun of all the ward bulletins, programs, Relief Society announcements, work posters, and baby shower announcements that display Papyrus, but I won't strike these people off my friends list (which is good, because I'd be left with no friends at all).

Papyrus is everywhere. This is what made Jan's candle branding so believable, and so I award extra points to the astuteness of The Office's set people.

What I cannot forgive is people who do actually brand their company by using this font. On a stroll up Main Street in Park City, I once counted seven separate businesses who used Papyrus as their business font. I've seen restaurant menu's use the font. I've even seen motion pictures use the font, which is extremely unacceptable. (You hire someone to make a font that's entirely unique to the movie, you fools! You don't use a font that comes loaded onto every computer in the world!)

Papyrus is not unique, and that's probably the biggest problem. If you want to design something that will pop, you don't choose the font that all of your neighbors and associates and general acquaintance has also chosen a billion times.

I promise that if you currently use Papyrus or have used Papyrus in the past, our friendship will survive it. Don't feel that you need to apologize to me, because probably 90 percent of the women reading this have used Papyrus before. I admit that when I first started to learn about design, I used it to create a poster that I was really proud of. But if you want my excellent, professional, valuable advice, I wouldn't use it again. Ever. I would delete it from your computer.

And then, one day, you might be like me and refuse to go back to restaurants who have Papyrus on the menu or shop at stores who use it in their branding. I can only hope that our united efforts will serve to abolish Papyrus completely from this earth.