CMM Coda

CMM Coda is a warm typewriter font with subtly rounded edges and an analogue aesthetic. It comes in three styles: Mono Sans, Mono Serif and Proportional, each with accompanying italic styles. It is a versatile and unusually structured type family with many alternates that completely change the look of the typeface, giving an array of options across different use cases and text types while maintaining a common design DNA. CMM Coda is based on Dual Basic, a typeface designed in the 1960s for the IBM Selectric typewriter. It was one of the first machines where fonts could be switched via “type balls” and characters could be stored on magnetic band – thus an early analogue word-processor and important bridge technology between typewriter and computer. Interestingly, both “typewriter” and “computer” were once terms to describe the female workforce operating the machines. Starting the late 19th century, typewriters enabled women to pursue careers such as typists, punchcard operators and telegraphists. Because women’s work used to be strongly associated with meticulousness, computing was considered well suited to women. In fact, the first people to write a computer program were women (ENIAC Five), the first software engineers in history. Thus, women have always occupied important roles in the transitioning of these technologies. CMM Coda draws a conceptual and typographic connection between the notions of typing, coding and writing. It connects feminist histories of typewriters and software engineering with roles and visualities of monospaced and proportionally spaced typefaces characteristic for writing processes associated with typing, coding and writing. [commatype.com]