Lol, sometimes readable counts.
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I like how Helvetica is listed in the 10 fonts that should not be used, then on the same site is an article for 40 great logos that all use Helvetica. 
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You and me both! 
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I think that ārulesā (guidelines?) are meant to be broken in the proper time and place. But, you should know why you are breaking them. Speaking specifically to design theory, there are a lot of little ārulesā. They can be very useful, especially for people who are not āprofessionalsā or are just getting started. Most of those rules are pretty decent and they help people become better. But, breaking them is also a part of becoming better. In a nutshell, I think you need to learn to walk before you run.
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absolutley agree, and in truth I do, but I have a thing against snobs and critics (not youā¦just to be clear 
) If they say, āthis is terribleā then Iām going to find a redeeming quality, just to spite them. Truth is I seldom use Comic or Papyrus, there are better options out there that havenāt been over used the way those two have, but I will still work them in occasionally, just to be obstinate. There are certainly hard and fast design rules that need to be learned and listened to - The rule of thirds comes to mind rather quickly, but so much of design is to find whatās appropriate for the situation.
For me itās almost like someone saying, āNo, no no! you have to eat this dish this way!ā āThank you very much, but Iāll eat it whatever way tastes good on my uncultured tongue, so pass the ketchup, will you?ā
again, @kids_a_pistol, this isnāt aimed at you, I just like to go off sometimes and be contrarian, keeps me in practice! 
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Using Helvetica is like naming your child Lauren. Itās not terrible, but no one is going to think you put a lot of thought into it, either.
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Same.
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Does everybody realize that the font-geek fights are like Did Han shoot first?, Star Trek or New Generation? Why did Harry Potter sell more than 2 copies when you could re-read LOTR? And the most dangerous question of all: tabs or spaces? All of which are incredibly important if you care.
Except font decisions have some real world impact.
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Ha. My girlfriendās name is Lauren, and you can pry my Helvetica Neue Condensed Black from my cold, dead fingers!
One hard and fast rule that I stick to 98% of the time with any font: Proportional resize.
If you like a font, respect it. If at all possible, Donāt stretch it to fit; instead use the letter spacing and kerning tools in your Character pallet. There is almost always a better way to make the font you want fit in the space it needs to go than to deform it.
Of course sometimes it is unavoidable., I just had to put some fresh letters onto a an old sign, and to match the rest of the lettering I was forced to desecrate the font used (which was Georgia).
Does it match? Yes. Does it looks good? No. Legible? Meh. Was I able to convince the building owner to spend $8,000-$15,000 to replace the entire monument sign? Regrettably no. Will I put a photograph of the sign into my portfolio? No.
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of course Han shot first, I thought that was settled a long time ago And why take one Star Trek over the other, they are both Star Trek after all! And while I reread LoTR regularly, I did enjoy Harry Potter. And as to the most important topic you poseā¦Tabs, abviously 
Now the debate can end, I have spokenā¦and my wife isnāt here at the moment to correct me.
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lots of peopleās girlfriends are named Lauren.
Now I wonder how many Glowforge backers are named Laurenā¦
Are you serious??
Tabs, of course! 
I donāt know about anyone else, but I totally LABOR over the decision to use Helvetica vs Arial vs Impact vs Haettenschweiler. For someone without the historical knowledge about the decision to say āGeesh, they spent no time at all thinking this throughā , well, obviously THEY are not even a designer.
All kidding asideā¦
When I owned a graphic/sign making biz, very rarely did I ever use a stock font in a design. I may have started with one, but by the time I was done adjusting spacing, correcting the kerning and customizing individual letters, they were so far off from āslapping down some lettersā.
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The other day BoingBoing posted a slam of Hee Haw. Now my family were city transplants into the country of mid-Missouri. We made fun of the folks around us who loved Hee Haw. But when I saw the BoingBoing post I actually felt a little defensive. One because Buck and Roy were some awesome musicians. And two because I have one joke from HeeHaw that I can always remember if need be.
But man, if I look at Laugh In or some other show from a different cultural group at that time, I just cringe just as bad. Look at some YouTubes of the Mama Cass show.
Font choice subject to cultural clash as anything. There are some secret legibility signals (legibility not in the typographical sense but in the semiotic sense) going on here that the common folk just ādonāt get.ā
Cultural signals cluster around two poles: small groups that tend to be exclusive and narrow in legibility which leads to elitism, and large groups that tend to be easily legible and thus tend to be labeled common.
So the font wars are manifesting two totally different battlegrounds of legibility that necessarily are connected.
Step one: Legibility in the literal sense: is a font readable?
Step two: how does the font convey the meaning of the text is symbolizes?
Step three: Font battle now because the meaning of the text is now inextricably linked to a font and all the cutural significations that come with the meaning of the text are now associated with the font, which begins life as a very sterile, functional set of lines.
Polarization, plurality, homogeneity, group loyality, adversarial stances all get mixed up.
I think of things like this a lot! Just have a discussion about what is āappropriateā religious music.
Or most crucial: just what constitutes holiness.
We are doomed to an eternal struggle because there is absolutely no way to exist any more with common cultural agreement. Just too many, too mobile and too informed people.
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Oh, please donāt go there! (faceplant! - need an emoji for this!)
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- faceplant
- facepalm
- āegg on your faceā plant
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Oh, Iām going to implement that facepalm. Very clever! 
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I do not think that means what you think it meansā¦ 
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You mean itās not just an eggplant?
Or were you just quoting āThe Princess Brideā?
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Moruthae? (like Morrissey with a interdental lisp?)
Friday March 10, 8 PM
The Prophet Bar
Dallas, TX
Strangely the details are the easiest thing to read on the flyer.
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