---
title: "Courier (1955) — Howard Kettler"
description: "Courier was designed by Howard Kettler in 1955. What it signals, where you have seen it, and how to tell it from Courier New."
url: https://atoneplace.net/font/courier/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Courier

**Courier: Howard Kettler, 1955**

Monospace · A typewriter, a screenplay, or code written before syntax highlighting.

Drawn for IBM, who then failed to secure exclusive rights and watched every competitor adopt it. Screenplay format is specified in 12-point Courier precisely because its fixed width makes one page reliably equal one minute of screen time — a convention that survives entirely because of the typeface's metrics. The US State Department used it as its standard face until 2004.

## How to tell it apart

| Mistaken for | Which letters to check |
| --- | --- |
| Courier New | Courier New is Monotype's redrawing and is noticeably lighter — thinner strokes that look washed out on screen. Screenplay software usually means Courier Prime or Courier Final Draft, both of which restore the weight. |

## The facts

- **Designed by:** Howard Kettler
- **Released:** 1955
- **Classification:** Monospace
- **What it signals now:** A typewriter, a screenplay, or code written before syntax highlighting.

## Where you have seen it

- Every screenplay ever submitted
- IBM typewriters
- Legal drafts

## Other typefaces from the 1950s

| Typeface | Year | Designer | What it signals |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Helvetica | 1957 | Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann | Neutral corporate modernism. So common it reads as no choice at all — which was the intent. |
| Univers | 1957 | Adrian Frutiger | Systematic Swiss design. The typeface for people who find Helvetica sloppy. |
| Optima | 1958 | Hermann Zapf | Elegant, slightly classical. Cosmetics, memorials, luxury that does not want to shout. |

> This page describes the typeface rather than showing it. Displaying a specimen requires a licensed font file and almost none of these may be redistributed, so the descriptions name the letters to look at instead.

## Common questions

### Who designed Courier?

Howard Kettler, in 1955.

### What is Courier used for?

A typewriter, a screenplay, or code written before syntax highlighting. You will have seen it on Every screenplay ever submitted, IBM typewriters, Legal drafts.

### What is the difference between Courier and Courier New?

Courier New is Monotype's redrawing and is noticeably lighter — thinner strokes that look washed out on screen. Screenplay software usually means Courier Prime or Courier Final Draft, both of which restore the weight.

## Related pages

- [Typefaces from the 1950s](https://atoneplace.net/font/decade/1950s/)

## Sources

- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place (/about/)