The Origin of Teletype Monocase Font


Doyald Young invented Teletype Monocase font in 1965.

Teletype was a precursor to SMS messages. A digital method for sending text between phone lines.

But there was one problem.

Teletype couldn’t handle upper or lower case letters.

Doyald Young was brought into to solve this problem. He was tasked with creating a font that would appear set in lower-case, but not offend its recipients when their proper names weren’t capitalized.

The monocase font was never used.

It was quote:

“was hard to read and didn’t fool anybody,”

An engineer

Source: Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots: California and Graphic Design, 1936-1986, by Louise Sandhaus, Lorraine Wild, Denise Gonzales Crisp, pg.96


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