For some people, a letter, manuscript, or note typed out on a typewriter is imbued with a certain romance and integrity. But even die-hard typewriter fetishists like Tom Hanks might hurl their Remingtons out the window if they got a letter in the mail typed on the Sincerity Machine, a modified typewriter that rattles off print in Comic Sans. Puke!
Created by designer Jesse England, the Sincerity Machine started out with a Sears-branded Brother Charger 11 typewriter from the 1970s. Instead of having the usual Courier-style font, the hammers of the Sincerity Machine have been modified with laser-etched caps so that they print out the most despised typeface in history when you hit the keys. At least you know what you're getting into when you sit down in front of the Sincerity Machine, though: The keycaps have similarly been modified so that they show Comic Sans.
According to England, the Sincerity Machine is part of an ongoing project examining how we "we create, consume, store (and fetishize) media." The typewriter's name comes from the web comic Cat And Girl, which certainly seems appropriate: choosing Comic Sans as your font is so effective at labeling someone a childlike, country-fried design bumpkin that it's not even safe to use ironically.
Check out the official Sincerity Machine site here, which also has England's address posted, if anyone wants to trade letters with him over snail mail.
[h/t Waxy.org]