Research

Much of my interest in the topic was piqued by Damien Guard’s article, Typography in 8 bits: system fonts. In preparation for this project, I decided to conduct an even more comprehensive study of classic dot-matrix fonts, with a focus on those using the iconic 5×7 dot matrix capitals. In the end, over 40 existing 5×7 font designs were studied.

These example fonts are presented in approximate chronological order, ranging from the 1960s to the present day. This list is by no means exhaustive; it simply contains all the examples I could find.

Many of the fonts depicted below contained a full set of 128 or 256 characters, including special glyphs for pseudo-graphics applications, other scripts, etc. So as to compare the glyph designs themselves rather than the character sets, only the standard ASCII ranges of each font are reproduced here (equivalent to Unicode's Basic Latin block). The original systems employed character cells of various sizes, resulting in different spacing between characters and lines. For clarity and consistency, the fonts have been presented here with 7×10 dot character cells.

I have arranged my comments on the fonts in PMI format: Plus (pros), Minus (cons) and Interesting. The earlier examples tend to attract more comments not necessarily because they are more idiosyncratic, but because each particular quirk is mentioned here only once. Much more could be written about each font if they were critiqued individually.

All images on this page are made available under the Creative Commons Zero licence (public domain dedication)

Prior designs

IBM 029 Card Punch

Reference: Norbert Landsteiner — Punched Card Typography Explained

Font replicating this design: Keypunch029 by Stewart C. Russell

The IBM 029, a machine for creating punched cards, was introduced in 1964 to replace the 026 Printing Card Punch from 1949. I decided to show the 029 character set here because it could print a few more characters than the 026. They are the two oldest dot-matrix character sets I have found in my research. They are so old, in fact, that the patterns were stored on a metal “code plate” since electronic read-only memories — indeed, integrated circuits (or silicon chips) in general — were yet to be invented.

Despite their advanced age, a majority of these glyphs have stood the test of time, appearing the same as newer 5×7 dot matrix fonts. There are only a couple of truly unusual designs, like the letter S which was probably chosen to differentiate it from the number 5.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Clear, open dollar sign $ with small s to allow the strokes to protrude above and below Heavy punctuation marks ' , . : ; are distinguishable in adverse conditions Clear, exaggerated curves of brackets/parentheses ( ) Serifs differentiate number 1 and letter I High-waisted 5 is well-differentiated Squarish G has good legibility	Wavy diagonals in per cent sign % and X Heavy apostrophe ' is ugly Crowded dots in asterisk * Slightly low hyphen/minus sign - Semicolon ; not aligned with colon : Narrow question mark ? Serifs on B D help to differentiate from 8 O, but inconsistent with the other letters Short crossbars on E F Upper terminal of G does not match C Serifless J does not match I High diagonal of N Diagonal centre of S Stumpy central peak of W	Unusual, decorative number sign # Dots in %; no room for circles Floating diagonal in slash / looks odd today, but a nearly universal choice in 5×7 fonts Narrow zero 0 to differentiate from O Exaggerated lower curve on 2 Somewhat awkward diagonal on 7 Large less- and greater-than signs < > At sign @ visibly based on a, but loop does not extend all the way around Angular A Somewhat awkward shape of M Rectangular O to differentiate from zero 0 Sharp V is effective but does not match A

Project Intrex

Reference: Paul Allen King Jr. — A novel solid state character generator

While searching Internet Archive for information, I found a 1969 thesis about the development of a character generator for an automated library system at MIT. This device supplied character patterns for a computerised video display, still quite a novel concept at the time. The dot matrix data were stored in a hand-woven core rope memory.

The character set depicted here was actually not intended to be used directly, but instead with interpolation circuitry that smoothed curves and diagonals to produce a 9×13 dot matrix. As such, many of the designs are unconventional or suboptimal in appearance in their 5×7 form.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Full-height stroke in dollar sign $ Effective six-pointed asterisk * Semicolon ; and colon : properly aligned 5×5 less- and greater-than signs < > (albeit with wavy diagonals) Exaggerated curve of D differentiates from O Serifs on J harmonise well with I Conventional design of S Effective, if oversized, grave accent ` Attractive f uses full width, but low crossbar Highly exaggerated curly brackets/braces { } very effective and well-differentiated	Asymmetrical slash in per cent sign % Apostrophe ' resembles prime mark; would not work as opening quotation mark Full-height slashes / \ leading to lumpy diagonals Poorly-executed slashed zero 0 Elongated central terminal of 3 Top-heavy 5 Tails of 6 and 9 too long Poorly-executed question mark ? Uneven at sign @ Pointy A v Uneven weight in diagonals of M N Reduced x-height of b d Bowl of g does not match b d p q Dot of i higher than that of j Serifless l (small L) hard to differentiate Rounded m inconsistent with n Imbalanced y	Small number sign # Large, uneven upper part of ampersand & Straight lower terminal of 5 Straight diagonal of 7 Aggressively-rounded C only matches D Prominent crossbar of G Very sharp V leads to narrow crotch Excellent angular shape of W w but risks looking like a shaded pattern, losing legibility Low caret ^ Asymmetrical c Floating g p q with single-dot descenders Unusual but effective design of k Tails of n q r u Gap in vertical bar \|

Texas Instruments TMS4103

Texas Instruments TMS 4100 character set

Reference: Centronics 101 brochure

The TMS4103 was an early MOS character generator: that is, a special ROM chip containing character bitmaps. These devices were standard parts stocked by their manufacturers, without the need for a custom order as with ROMs in general. The TMS4103 dates back to at least 1970, when it was used in the first dot-matrix printers, the Centronics 101 and DEC LA30 DECwriter (well, I assume it was also used in the 101, since its character set is identical to that of the LA30).

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Consistent slashes in % / \ (but still ugly) Large, clear comma , Single-dot punctuation marks . : ; look better in running text Slashed zero 0 Colon : on baseline More usual question mark ? shape	& has flair but slightly uneven weight Awkward 2 Very awkward 3 Narrow semicolon ; spacing Oddly rounded circumflex ^	Wide gap in exclamation mark ! Prominent uptick and serifs on 1 Extra-large less- and greater-than signs < > At sign @ mostly encircled, but no a visible Round-topped A Horizontal terminals on S W like upside-down M is highly legible Rounded Y with centred junction

Fairchild 3258

Reference: 3258 datasheet

Another character generator from the early 1970s.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Sharp and legible 2 Centred diagonal of N looks a bit odd, but is the best design yet in my opinion	Flat-topped 3 aids differentiation from 8, but looks to be missing dots in the centre Wide colon : spacing Mismatched colon : and semicolon ;	Tight upper curve of question mark ? Similar at sign @ fully encircled Straight-sided V (a common choice) Round-bottomed W (also popular) Lower crotch of Y, shape echoes V

General Instrument RO-5-2240S

Reference: RO-5-2240S datasheet

Yet another character generator. The glyph patterns are similar to those of the Fairchild 3258 above, with only a few differences.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Effective design of tilde ~ (in place of backslash \) More subtle curly brackets { }	Aggressively-rounded at sign @; circle touches “a”

Mostek MK2408P

Reference: MK2408P datasheet

Still another character generator.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Attractively curved 2, a popular style Small less- and greater-than signs < > uncommon but very effective Round G consistent with other letters	Comma-like design of apostrophe ' would not work as an opening quotation mark Two-dot commas , ; possibly too subtle Upper diagonal of 3 better, but still ugly Top-heavy 7 Very abstract at sign @ Diagonals of V look like tapered curves	Interesting (and probably unique) ampersand & design Oversized asterisk * (but a common choice) D matches other curved glyphs, but differs from O by only two dots Low crossbar on G carries typographic flair, but looks out of place to my eye

National Semiconductor MM4240

Reference: MM4240 application notes

This is a composite of two character sets: those of the MM4240AA (capitals only) and MM4240AE (small letters only) character generators. Like most such devices from the era, the glyphs are strictly confined to the 5×7 dot matrix, forcing the descending letters g j p q y to sit high on the baseline. The designs of the small letters appear to have been influenced by traditional handwriting; note especially a b d e g l p q y.

Apart from the slash / and 7, all the characters up to Z are identical to those of the IBM 029. There seems to have been a trend of including a crosshatch graphic in the 0x7F position, also seen in several of the character sets below. This could serve as a blinking cursor on video displays.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Attractive bowl shape of b d g p q Consistent curves of b d g h n p q r u y Sophisticated, well-executed k Well-executed t is balanced, uses full width v matches V Centres of m w match	Awkward diagonal on 7 Bowls of d g upside-down (d needs a spur, g doesn’t; see example of convention) Crossbar of f too short, does not match t Ugly tail of i and hook of j Rounded corner of q Narrow curly brackets { } hard to recognise Awkward tilde ~	Script-style a with tail Open c is highly legible but looks wide Rounded e with short tail Mirrored i j Handwritten-style l Short centre leg of m

Motorola MCM6674

Reference: MCM6674 datasheet

Font replicating this design: Another Man’s Treasure by Rebecca G. Bettencourt

This character generator is notable for having being used in the Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I computer. It was relatively advanced in that it contained glyphs for all 128 possible ASCII codes, including lower-case letters.

Apart from O and S, the capitals are identical to those of the IBM 029.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Consistent curves of b d g h n p q r u	Ugly comma design ' , ; Inconsistent vertical alignment between colon and semicolon : ; Odd design of grave accent ` Narrow f does not match t Ugly curves of f t j looks too wide; lacks a serif to match i v w both inconsistent with V W Curve of y inconsistent with b d g h n p q r u Tilde ~ less recognisable and raised up, which limits its usefulness	Large, heavy, eight-pointed asterisk * Fully-rounded bowls of small b d g p q Narrow, single-dot aperture in c Curled tails of g y Narrow k

Signetics 2513

References: Signetics 2513 and GI RO-3-2513 datasheets

This is another composite of two character sets, belonging to the 2513/CM2140 (upper case) and 2513/CM3021 (lower case) character generators. The 2513 was a common part that was also produced by other manufacturers like General Instrument. This chip, with the upper-case-only character set, was used by the Apple I and Apple II computers.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Narrow, straight apostrophe ' matches double quotation mark " Effective script a	Another abstract at sign @ Wide and bold square brackets [ ] Poorly constructed k Very low central terminal of w	Very narrow f t Flat curves of h n r u y

National Semiconductor DM8678

Reference: DM8678 datasheet

This is also a composite of character sets, from the DM8678CAB (upper case) and DM8678CAH (lower case) character generators. The DM8678CAH still contained only 5×7 dot matrices for each glyph, but shifted the descending letters g j p q y by two lines during output in order to display them correctly. This has the side-effect of making j appear sunken, with its dot at the waistline of the font.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Clean, consistent lower case alphabet, with the sole exception of j Excellent question mark ? Consistent, legible b c d g h n p q y	Another awkward, top-heavy 7 Serifs on upper terminals of G T Hook of j matches neither g y nor f t	Long central leg of M Short tails of g y Narrow r (looks more proportional to me; compare with those above and below) Shorter t matches conventional typefaces better, but less legible Spurless u, a la Futura

Mullard SAA5050

Reference: SAA5050 datasheet

Font replicating this design (with totally smooth diagonals): Bedstead by Ben Harris

This chip was designed for Teletext applications and also saw use in home computers such as the BBC Micro. A full nine dots of height are available here, allowing for descenders that properly match the ascenders. The SAA5050 was able to interpolate these glyphs, to produce a 10×18 matrix with less jagged diagonals.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Comma and semicolon , ; extend below baseline, taking advantage of space Colon and semicolon : ; properly aligned for lower-case text	Odd dollar sign $	Narrow hyphen - to differentiate from dash – in “English” character set version Unusual pointed zero 0 differentiates from capital O without using a slash, which may have confused general audiences at the time

Trendcom 200

Reference: Silentype manual

The Trendcom 200 was a thermal printer designed for use with personal computers. It is best known for being rebranded as the Apple Silentype, Apple’s first printer. It has one of the more interesting character sets on this list.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Another more reasonably sized asterisk * Unique and effective bold comma in , ; Rare and effective tail of R Non-descending g j p q y fit between baseline and waistline	Short terminals of s	Curves of 6 9 match 0 O etc. Low crossbar of A Unique diagonals of M W Narrow c looks more proportional (but has inconsistent spacing with adjacent letters) W w are both rotated forms of M m, leading to unique m shape and central terminal of w being longer than usual

Apple IIe

Reference: KreativeKorp — Ultimate Apple II Font

Font replicating this design: Print Char 21 by Rebecca G. Bettencourt

The first 64 glyphs (the first two rows here) are lifted from the Signetics 2513/CM2140 character generator, used in the earliest Apple computers.

The latter 32 glyphs were added to the Apple III (1980) and subsequently the Apple IIe in 1983 (with the crosshatch at 0x7F replacing the Apple logo from the Apple III font). The larger character cells on these systems allowed for descenders on the small letters, if somewhat stunted at only one dot below the baseline.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Another clean, consistent lower-case alphabet, with the exception of g u k 5 dots wide; very open and legible	g too round m w too square r u do not harmonise with h n y	Unusual, effective length of central leg of m Bold but evenly-curved tilde ~; a good solution to keep it two dots high

Motorola MC6847

Reference: Wikipedia

Font replicating this design: Hot CoCo by Rebecca G. Bettencourt

This video chip, with built-in character generator, was used in the Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer. It contains a set of negative (or inverse, i.e. white on black) capitals, which there was no need to reproduce here, instead of small letters. Notice that this set is nearly identical to that of the IBM 029 Card Punch seen above.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Clumsy-looking 4 6 9	Diamond in place of asterisk *

Texas Instruments 99/4A

Reference: Classic99 emulator (see screenshot)

The TI 99/4A was another early home computer. Its character set has the rare inclusion of small capitals instead of lower-case letters; this may have been a compromise decision as the character cells are not deep enough for descenders. The small caps are generally well-executed and perfectly match the full capitals.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Effective bold comma and semicolon , ;	Regular S in dollar sign $, with another non-protruding stroke Narrow j k	Non-slashed, full-width zero 0

Oric

Reference: Proposal to add characters from legacy computers and teletext to the UCS

The character set of the Oric series of home computers is almost identical to that of the Apple IIe, except for the altered comma, 2, 6, 9, colon, semicolon and square brackets, plus a few special characters in the non-alphanumeric positions.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Aggressively-rounded corners of copyright symbol © mean the circle touches the c	Long, low stroke on pound sign £

EACA Colour Genie

Reference: Colour Genie firmware (see graphic)

Another, less well-known, home computer from the early 1980s.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Crossbar of f on waistline, as in traditional typefaces	Very long serif of J Serifs of T Z inconsistent within the font Elongated t	Unique ampersand & Serifless 1 Descender of f Effective tilde ~ (but 6 dots wide is cheating)

COMX-35

Reference: COMX-35 firmware (see graphic)

This obscure home computer has one of the worst character sets I’ve seen (the ampersand & really does sit below the baseline; that wasn’t a mistake on my part!). There would have been plenty of room for lower-case letters if the set didn't have duplicate glyphs in different colours, multiple variations of the COMX logo and other useless pseudo-graphic characters. What’s more, the RCA CDP1870 video chip supports character cells 9 dots high, which would have allowed for lower-case with true descenders.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Imbalanced number sign # Drooping upper terminal of 2 Extra dots in 5 A Short terminals of 9 G

Aquarius

Reference: Aquarius firmware (see graphic)

The Aquarius computer, manufactured by Radofin, is best known for being briefly sold under the Mattel brand. The first 64 glyphs in this set are identical to those in the upper-case Signetics 2513/CM2140 character generator (except the apostrophe!) and the latter 32 appear to have been derived from the lower-case 2513/CM3021 with some modifications.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Uneven arms on k m w 6 dots wide and uneven Short descenders of p q Square y	Cruciform t

Commodore MPS-803

Reference: printout from my MPS-803

The MPS-803 was a dot-matrix printer designed for use with Commodore home computers. Being an 8-bit Commodore device, its built-in character set does not adhere to the ASCII standard, so this image has been rearranged for presentation here.

This has one of the cleanest, most consistent capital alphabets yet examined, but the small alphabet suffers from numerous quirks.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Round A G make for consistent look Unusual and effective y based on v shape, as in conventional typefaces	Narrow p q Uneven s	Tail on a

BASIC Level III (Sega SC-3000)

Reference: SC-3000 Survivors online emulator (see screenshot)

The SC-3000 was a computer version of Sega’s first game console, the SG-1000. Like the SG-1000 but rarely for home computers, it has no built-in ROM for firmware, instead relying on plug-in cartridges. This character set belongs to the BASIC Level III cartridge.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Well-executed yen sign ¥ Effective Greek letter pi π	Serif and weak diagonal on 7 Drooping upper terminal on question mark ? Square a Wide crossbars on f t	Chunky 4 is highly legible Rounded a within at sign @ Short central terminal of W

MSX

Reference: La Nueva Escuela — Making an MSX font

Font replicating this design: MSX Screen 0 by Andy Teijelo

Inspired by successful industry standards like VHS and disappointed in the Wild-West fractured home computer market, several (mostly Japanese) manufacturers adopted a common 8-bit computer standard, MSX. The full character set is similar to that of the IBM PC, with the glyphs redesigned to fit the TMS9918 video chip’s text mode.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Poorly-executed ampersand & Low slashes / \ Angular 5 Serif and odd diagonal on 7 Centred stem of f leaves little room for hook Crowded dots in g p q Extra dot in middle of s	Bold less- and greater-than signs < > D combines both legibility enhancements Tail on u

Elektronika BK-0010

Reference: BK Back to Life emulator (see screenshot)

This is a rare example of a home computer from the Soviet Union. Overall, it has one of the nicest fonts on this list, with relatively few foibles. It also contains glyphs for the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet, of course, so it can be a useful example for extending my font later.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
7-dot high version of the angular y	Asymmetric quotation marks " ' Unique and ugly at sign @	Large currency sign ¤ Rarely, B D do not match Extra-pointy curly brackets { }

Samsung SPC-1000

Reference: Wikipedia

The SPC-1000 was Samsung’s first personal computer. It used the AMI S68047 video chip, similar to the Motorola 6847 and evidently with a very similar built-in character generator ROM. The latter 32 glyphs here are unique to the SPC-1000, however. Note that the relative letter spacing has been altered in the graphic above to accommodate a few 7-dot wide glyphs; this system used 8×12 character cells.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Long upper terminal and ugly tail of a	Won sign ₩ uses width to advantage

Motorola MC6847T1

Reference: Wikipedia

This updated video chip was used in the late-model Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer 2. It now contains a lower-case alphabet, with true descenders. Some of the unusual glyph designs have been cleaned up in this version, although some have also been made worse.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Another asterisk * with uneven weight Missing dot in centre of 3 At sign @ unique and ugly j y shorter than other descending letters Humpless m

Sega barcodes

References: Altered Beast and Black Belt case inserts

These numerals were found alongside the barcodes on some Sega Master System games. They contain some interesting features that I haven’t seen anywhere else. Some of those may have been inspired by the typeface OCR-B, which is normally used on EAN and UPC barcodes; that would explain the designs of the digits 1, 3, 4, 6 and 9 (but not 2, 5 or 7).

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Effective, serifless 1 Well-executed flat-topped 3 (finally!) Open counter of 4 is attractive and legible	Odd diagonal of 2	Short tails of 6 9 are legible but appear somewhat imbalanced

Hitachi HD44780U

Reference: HD44780U Datasheet

This LCD controller, dating back to the 1980s, has been widely used in character LCDs. Particularly popular in hobbyist applications and commercial devices of low-volume production, there are hundreds of these modules available from dozens of manufacturers. Nowadays, such devices usually emulate the HD44780U’s behaviour and character ROM. Of the character LCDs available on Mouser at the time of writing (that list the glyph patterns in the datasheet, like this example), all appear to use nearly identical glyph designs, usually varying by only a few dots here and there. They are likely derivatives of each other, with differences probably due to errors in manual transcription. Shown here is the A00 ROM, which provides the option of true descenders (and very deep ones too, at 3 dots below the baseline).

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Cluttered yen sign ¥ Uneven c	Very deep descenders of g j p q y

Terminal (Microsoft Windows)

Reference: app850.fon (system font file)

This font, aptly named Terminal, is used when a Command Prompt window is set to use the 6×8 raster font (those being the full character cell dimensions, including the gaps around the 5×7 glyphs). It dates back at least as far as 1992, in Windows 3.1’s DOSAPP.FON. It has quite a number of unusual features compared to the other fonts in this list. The design strikes me as something that was adapted from larger dimensions (the file does contain fonts of various sizes, possibly lending some credence to this idea), which may explain the unconventional design, odd proportions and inconsistent weight of certain glyphs.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Wide spacing in equals sign = Narrow Z h k n u x y z ~ Only one serif at bottom right of i l but regular serif on j Serifs on r Uneven weight of w y	Bold exclamation mark ! Short number sign # Diagonal stroke in dollar sign $ Narrow round brackets ( ) Small, bold asterisk * Another style of bold comma , High central terminal in W No diagonals in x Extra dot in centre of curly brackets { }

FF Dot Matrix Two

Reference: MyFonts — FF Dot Matrix

The earliest example I have seen of a commercial typeface imitating the 5×7 dot matrix style, dating from the early 1990s. Around that time, foundry FontFont also popularised another utilitarian style with their famous release, FF DIN.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Excellent slash and backslash / \ use the full height without appearing lumpy or wavy	Another ugly ampersand & Mismatched comma and full stop , . Asymmetrical tilde on ~	Small, cross-shaped asterisk * At sign @ uses broken ring to good effect Descender of Q

Fairfax

Reference: KreativeKorp — Fairfax

This open-source font by Rebecca G. Bettencourt was created for the stated purposes of coding and plain text editing, and has a wide Unicode coverage with support for some constructed scripts in the Unicode Private Use Area. Similarly to the font I wish to create, it is distributed as an outline font in TrueType format, having been converted from bitmaps using custom software.

Fairfax has the best lower-case b d g p q that I have seen in any 5×7 font. It is the only design examined here that has the conventional bowl shapes for these letters (see the National Semiconductor MM4240 section above). While still being restricted to 5 dots of width, some glyphs enjoy a much taller dot matrix, such as the quotation marks, slashes and brackets. This affords the font a more modern feel, unlike anything derived from one of the “classical” 5×7 fonts above.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Large dollar sign $ with protruding stroke Tall brackets, slashes, vertical line () [] {} / \ \| Gentle curve of 7 Well-executed 5×5 less- and greater-than signs < > like rotated v Narrow curly brackets { } much more effective with this height	Per cent sign % contains real circles instead of dots, but this harms its clarity	Quotation marks " ' raised above cap line Small, raised number sign # Asterisk * raised but with usual shape Flat upper serif of 1 Unusual 6 9 Variation of the abstract at sign @ manages to contain recognisable a Asymmetric c

PixelMix

Reference: pixelmix.ttf via DaFont

This is a popular 5×7 dot matrix font by Andrew Tyler, freely available online for personal use, with over 400,000 downloads on DaFont at the time of writing. The design appears to be based on the A02 ROM of the Hitachi HD44780U, with most of the alphanumeric characters matching it. While the small letters are therefore a bit wonky and inconsistent, it does have the very effective slash and backslash seen in FF Dot Matrix above.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
Ideal size and shape of grave accent `	Wide and ugly ampersand & Plus-shaped asterisk * Slightly narrow, lop-sided question mark ? Extra wide at sign @ Extra tall f g rises above waistline	Wide stroke spacing in number sign # Right-angled comma , ; Square corners of curly brackets { }

5by7

Reference: 5by7.ttf via peter-wiegel.de

This open-source font by Peter Wiegel was inspired by his first font project: modifying the character set of a laboratory instrument to support German umlauts. Although the glyphs are strictly limited to a 5×7 matrix, it is a proportional font, so narrow glyphs have only one dot of spacing.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Another unusual ampersand & Asterisk * is a square	Bold exclamation mark ! Different shape of non-descending y

Minecraft

Reference: ascii.png (game texture file)

Although this is by far the most stylised font shown here, I felt it was worth examining since it belongs to the best-selling video game of all time; countless words in this font have been read by hundreds of millions of people around the world. This makes it a significant design with wide recognition, especially amongst young people.

In monospaced fonts like those above (except PixelMix), it was normal to include serifs on 1 I i l for extra width. The Minecraft font is proportionally spaced, however, so many glyphs are much wider or narrower than usual. Additionally, the proportions of many glyphs (like the small punctuation marks, small raised asterisk, full-height slashes, etc.) are unusual for 5×7 dot matrix fonts, but perfectly normal for conventional typefaces. These features all help to give the Minecraft font a more contemporary feel.

P 😍	M 😕	I 🤔
	Yet another poorly-executed ampersand & Small, raised asterisk * less recognisable Wide base of 1 Serif on 2 Tailless 4 Long tails of g y Square corner of w	Narrow dots in percent sign % Larger at sign @ still an abstract squiggle High-waisted capitals A B E F G H K P R S X Y Stroke of Q only extends outwards Vertical tail of R Inconsistent terminals of S Serifless i j l

Beyond ASCII

There has long been more to computer fonts than the 95 printable ASCII characters. Some of the fonts examined above contained accented letters and other special characters, which we will now explore further. Where necessary, I have rearranged the glyphs to match the order of ISO‑8859‑1 (and thereby Unicode's Latin‑1 Supplement block) to make comparison easier.

See how the diacritical marks are very large, compared to conventional typefaces, owing to the number of dots required to define them.