Who still uses monospace typefaces?

One of the only places normies will read anything in a monospaced typeface these days is when they buy something from a store and they get a long paper receipt from a point-of-sale machine (aka cash register).

Screenshot of a digital receipt from Australian retailer JB Hi-Fi for a Microsoft Surface laptop and pen. The typeface used here is Courier.

There are, however, two groups of people who still frequently use monospace typefaces.

Computer nerds

The first group is software programmers and computer nerds like me.

We read and write things in plain text files (software code, system configurations, etc) and we use our computer’s command line all the time, both of which use a monospace typeface by default.

Screenshot of a computer’s command line showing the list of files in a directory (aka folder). The typeface used here is Hack.

Film nerds

The second group is folks who work in the film and television industry, as well as film nerds like me.

We work with – or, in my case, just read – screenplays all the time, and virtually all of those are written in a monospace typeface. (At least all the screenplays written in the Latin script.)

The font used in these screenplays is almost always 12pt Courier, Courier Prime (which was designed specifically for screenplays), or Courier Sans Mono.

Screenshot of the screenplay to the film ‘Sinners’ by Ryan Coogler. Source: SimplyScripts. The typeface used here is Courier.

Old-school cool

Even though most of us rarely use monospace typefaces in our daily lives, the impact that geekdom and filmdom have had on popular culture means that there’s an “old-school cool” aesthetic about using monospace typefaces.

Of course this is also partly because Courier was the typeface used by IBM Selectric typewriters, and that was the typewriter of choice for many famous authors and journalists from the 1960s onwards.

‘Thomson and his typewriter’ (Source). Photo of American author and journalist Hunter S. Thomson standing calf-deep in snow outside his cabin in Aspen, Colorado, USA in 1989. Thomson is wearing blue jeans, a blue jacket, and a brown fedora hat. He is pointing a silver handgun at beige coloured IBM Selectric typewriter lying on the snow a short distance away from him.

All that to say there are still plenty of monospace typefaces being designed and published every year. And some techie/nerdy websites and blogs also continue to use monospace typefaces for their body text and headings – like Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic, which uses your browser/computer’s default monospace typeface in all its text elements.

A convergence of aesthetics

This brings me to the fun convergence that is the topic of this post, where we have two type designers who approached the monospace-typeface aesthetic from opposite directions.

A monospaced typeface with a proportional typeface aesthetic

In 2021, Owen Earl from indestructable type* published the Drafting* Mono typeface.

This monospace typeface is a gloriously “weird, wildly inconsistent” serif/sans-serif hybrid that “[imitates] the spirit of typewriters, not the literal look”.

Basically, this is a typewriter-inspired, monospaced typeface that has the aesthetic of proportional typefaces (aka variable-width typefaces).

Meaning this typeface functions like a monospace typeface but reads like the regular serif/sans-serif typefaces we’re used to seeing every day.

Graphic showing the first two paragraphs of *Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland* by Lewis Carol set in the Courier Prime and Drafting* Mono typefaces.

A proportional typeface with a monospaced aesthetic

In 2024, Pedro Arilla from Arillatype.Studio published the At Textual typeface.

This is a typeface that “draws inspiration from the texture, readability, and honest utilitarianism of monospaced fonts”.

Basically, this is a proportional typeface that has the aesthetic of monospaced typefaces.

Meaning this typeface functions like a proportional typeface, but reads like the monospace typefaces you see in text files and film scripts.

Graphic showing the first two paragraphs of *Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland* by Lewis Carol set in the Courier Prime and At Textual typefaces.

Converging around an aesthetic

I love that the two designers started from completely opposite directions (and largely remained within their respective lanes) but they both ended up converging around the idea that the monospace typeface aesthetic is cool, even in body text applications, and that they should do something about it :)

Want a different typewriter aesthetic?

By the way, if you’re after a monospace typewriter aesthetic but Courier and Drafting* Mono are too plain and neutral for you, check out Clack by Matthew Hinders-Anderson.

Graphic showing the phrase “Rabbit hole” set in the Courier Prime, Drafting* Mono, At Textual, and Clack typefaces. The text set Courier Prime is flagged as being standard and neutral; the text set in Drafting* Mono is flagged as being stylish and quirky; the text set in At Textual is flagged as being stylish and proportionally-spaced; and the text set in Clack (Medium) is flagged as being elegant.

Clack is a lovely interpretation of the typefaces found on IBM Selectric typewriters (ie Courier and its variations) and is great for reading and writing text. It has weights that range from thin to black, and it has italics (which not all typewriter-inspired typefaces have, fyi) so it has a super versatile set of fonts as well.

Graphic showing the first two paragraphs of *Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland* by Lewis Carol set in the Courier Prime and Clack typefaces.

The only catch with all of Hinders-Anderson’s typefaces is that, while they’re free for anyone to use, they can only be used for non-commercial purposes.

This is why, for example, design agency Forge could use Hinders-Anderson’s Union Gothic typeface for the 2025 ‘Zohran for NYC’ campaign, but no brand can use that typeface for any commercial purpose – which I think is really cool :)

Screenshot from the *Zohran for NYC* campaign website showing headings set in the Union Gothic sans serif typeface.

Favourite monospace typefaces

That’s all I have to say about monospace typefaces today.

Though, if you want, you can check out my December 2025 list of favourite typefaces in which I include my favourite monospace typefaces towards the end.

Do you have any favourite monospaced typefaces? I’d love to know what they are. Especially the ones you use for writing text, not just code.