MonoLisa

font follows function

As software developers, we always strive for better tools but rarely consider font as such. Yet we spend most of our days looking at screens reading and writing code. Using a wrong font can negatively impact our productivity and lead to bugs. MonoLisa was designed by professionals to improve developers’ productivity and reduce fatigue.

What developers say...

Horacio HerreraIndependent consultant
This font is so sharp that the readability of my code increased a lot! Definitely a font I will use for a long time.
Sara VieiraEngineer at CodeSandbox
I just changed to MonoLisa in every possible application including my terminal and It’s so clean and easier to read. As someone with an eye condition this font makes my life waay easier.
And not just in coding but even in design since it doesn’t only carry regular but the whole set of weights so you can even use it in design, logos or anything a monospace font makes sense.
Kent C. DoddsMaking people's lives better with software
I’m not much of a font guy, but after using this font for just a few days it’s grown on my and I really like it. (And people wasted no time in constantly asking me what font I use). Two thumbs up 👍👍
Gant LabordeCIO at Infinite Red
As a consultant, an instructor, and a presenter, having a clean and engaging mono font is paramount, and MonoLisa delivers information perfectly to everyone without forgetting to sneak in some personality in a gentle smile.
Max StoiberFrontend Developer at Gatsby
I love it ♥️
Cassidy WilliamsTeaching and coding at React Training
I switched to MonoLisa after trying out several different fonts in my terminal and in my IDE. As a coding instructor and speaker (and just someone who codes a lot in her free time), readability is always the most important thing to me in a font.
MonoLisa is wide, has distinct characters, and gives the option of ligatures that aren’t too fancy, and that checks all of my boxes. The team behind it has taken feedback well, and every single improvement has been a genuine delight to use. I’m really happy with this font.
Kyle WelchSenior Software Developer at Eventbrite
MonoLisa is now my go to font for all places. It has become my expectation in my terminal and code to the point that seeing other fonts confuses me. From the well designed and unique characters make it simple to parse and read throughout the day.
Mark DalgleishDeveloper at SEEK
I’ve been using MonoLisa as my editor font for the past few months. After a small adjustment period, I really grew to love it. Going back to any of my old font choices feels like a downgrade in comparison.
David KhourshidSoftware developer at Microsoft
I’ve been using this font for months, and while the slightly wider nature of this font took a little getting used to at first, it eventually grew on me and I saw how well this font works with my daily workflow. A great, quality font and I highly recommend it!

Features

Designing a monospace font is much harder than a traditional, proportional one: being constrained by the same width of all glyphs can result in a boring or unreadable font.

MonoLisa features a few unique techniques that increase the legibility and make it visually pleasant to look at for longer periods of time.

Increased width

Increased character width helped us designing a typeface with more natural, open forms. The shapes are more relaxed creating less eye strain over long periods of time.

Wide

MonoLisa is ~7% wider compared to Fira Code.

Distinction

Distinction is critical for a good coding font since it reduces ambiguity and helps avoid mistakes that can lead to software bugs.

MonoLisa has a set of glyphs that fit together but at the same time are distinct enough so you can tell them apart.

db
Distinct lower case connections
CG
Different terminals of capitals
Il1
Similar characters look different
0OØ
Zero, capital O and Ø

Reading Flow

MonoLisa uses open forms and terminals (starting and ending points) that are pointing towards the neighbouring letters to let the eye follow the line of text fluently.

acefls

Space

Monospaced fonts naturally have unevenly distributed dark and light space in comparison to regular typefaces. MonoLisa carefully compensates that by using unique letter shapes to keep the balance between dark and light space.

MonoLisa, 14px
Fira Code, 14px
Source Code Pro, 14px
Jetbrains Mono, 14px
Wassermelone

Italics

The italics of MonoLisa are not simply slanted versions of the upright font. Some clearly differently constructed glyphs make the difference.

a
e
f
g
i
k

Coding Ligatures

MonoLisa comes with over 120 specially designed coding ligatures. Ligature is a special symbol that combines two or more characters together so it looks like one token. Ligatures help reduce visual noise and balance white space by aligning special symbols appropriately.

++a>=b!=c~~>d<!--...<*>...-->??e:=f=>{|1,2,3|}

About

Choosing a typeface is a like choosing your laptop, your editor, or any other developer tool. It’s a subtle but important choice given you end up using it a lot.

Marcus Sterz, a font designer with decades of experience in graphic and type design, collaborated with software developers Andrey Okonetchnikov and Juho Vepsäläinen who contributed their vast expertise in programming to create the ideal font for coding.

Spending most of our days reading and writing code can be tiring, especially on our eyes, affecting our ability to concentrate and may lead to bugs in our software.

MonoLisa – a unique coding font created by professionals for professionals

Get MonoLisa