Analyzing the Appeal of Courier

There are many different typefaces that we are used to seeing, and using in our everyday assignments. But have you ever stopped to truly think about what these different typefaces mean? Why one typeface is appropriate for an essay, while another might be good for a movie poster? A lot of this has to do with the text’s makeup. Stems, bowls, counters, serifs, ascenders, and more are all components that give a typeface it's own unique feeling.

In this article, I’ll be analyzing the typeface “Courier”, which was developed in 1955 by Howard Kettler. Upon seeing it, you would most likely immediately recognize it as the “typewriter” font. This is because when it was developed, big companies like IBM used it for their typewriters, and it soon became the standard for the typewriter industry.

Firstly, I’m going to analyze the text itself. Courier actually has more kerning, or space between the letters, than most other typefaces. This makes it very open and readable. It is also considered a serif font, which means that it has an extra flare at the ends of letters. This also adds to its legibility, and making it one of the easiest fonts to read.

One thing that some would argue can take away from Courier’s legibility is how low-contrast it is. Contrast is the text’s variations between thick and thin lines. Being low-contrast, courier is extremely uniform. While low-contrast text might be trendy, and cool looking for websites, it actually makes text much harder to read, and readers are more likely to get frustrated.

There aren’t any stresses on courier, since it’s a very uniform font. All of the circular parts of it are about the same size, and this is also due to it being low-contrast. However, stressing can add a sort of welcoming feeling to the font. Since courier lacks this, and it is a rather uniform font, it can give off a cold feeling.

One of the most obvious traits about courier is that it doesn’t have much variance in its anatomy. The ascenders, or parts of the letter that extend over the cap height (which is the distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letter), aren’t very high. All of the letters look to be about the same size, capital or not. The same goes for descenders or the parts of the letter that go below the baseline.

So, should you use courier for your project? Depending on how you use it, and the other fonts you choose to use with it, it can give off a modern feeling or a vintage feeling. For instance, pair it with Helvetica to give it a juxtaposed modern feeling. If you use it just by itself, it invokes that typewriter feeling and gives a vintage look. It would be great to use for an informational post or to caption a photo. Today, courier is available in regular and bold versions. There is a “courier new” that is available electronically.