The average computer user spends little time thinking about typefaces, and even less about monospaced typefaces (with the exception of Courier, which they curse for usually showing up only when there is a problem with their computer or a website they’re visiting). The situation is very different for computer developers and programmers, who spend hours staring at code where clearly distinguishing between the numeral one (1) and a lowercase l can make all the difference between a functioning program and a catastrophic mess. Unfortunately, many monospaced typefaces are not designed for such intense focus, as type designer and programmer Patric King laments:
I code, nearly every day, and I hate looking at typefaces for code. Just hate it. They’re almost all over-rationalized and over-geometric — usually because the designer thought it appropriate to connect the monospace’s rigid spacing requirements to its geometry, making the entire thing rational. That is exactly the wrong approach to take for a typeface someone’s going to be staring at for hours at a time.
This problem is exacerbated for low-vision and legally blind developers and programmers, for whom issues of clarity and legibility are even more acute.
Designer Fred Shallcrass—of type foundry Frere-Jones—therefore worked with technology corporation Intel and marketing firm VMLY&R to create Intel One Mono, a monospaced typeface that reduced coding errors by reducing eyestrain (and therefore developer fatigue). More specifically, Frere-Jones notes, “Our design process was guided by feedback sessions with low-vision and legally blind developers. Centering this chronically underserved audience led to improvements in clarity and legibility that can benefit all developers.”
WPP—of which VMLY&R is a subsidiary—explains how Intel One Mono addresses the needs of low-vision developers:
To increase legibility, characters were designed that can less easily be confused for others, increased the distinctiveness of individual word shapes, and increased default tracking (i.e., the space between characters) and leading (i.e., the space between lines). Character differentiation: The lowercase ‘e’ and uppercase ‘G’ are good examples, where both shapes are prone to being confused with others and need extra clarification. These treatments reduce the need to skip back and confirm what’s been read. More legible word shapes: the heights of the uppercase and lowercase letters are as different as possible. In the same vein, the ascenders (tall parts of b, d, h, k, etc.) and descenders (long parts of j, g, p, q, y) are more prominent to make more legible word shapes on the screen.
While this is to my knowledge the first monospaced typeface specifically designed for low-vision users, and therefore cause for celebration, it is not the first monospaced design to take reader eyestrain into account: Gintronic, the typeface being reviewed by Patric King (after his lament about overly-geometric designs), deliberately incorporates irregularities into its character design. “These irregularities,” King writes, “create a pattern of visual form that feels written, rather than machined. It’s a system of letters made not necessarily for information analysis, but rather information comprehension. In other words: I could read a book set in this stuff.”
In my next article I’ll look at other typefaces designed for more general-purpose publishing for low-vision readers. Until then, I encourage you to download a free copy of the open-source Intel One Mono fonts for yourself. While I do not use Intel One Mono itself (I actually do use Gintronic for coding), I use different monospaced typefaces for all my writing, editing and proofreading—I’ve found the regularity and clarity of monospaced typefaces helps me better attend to each word and sentence while working.
