Martian Mono
Martian Mono is a monospaced version of the Martian Grotesk font for code style design. It inherits Grotesk’s brutal and eye-catching aesthetics as well as all of its benefits—metrics equilibrium, readability and intelligibility, and convenience for web developers and designers who believe in a systematic approach to design.
👉 Get your Martian Grotesk free trial on Gumroad or buy it on MyFonts to support Mono development.
The typeface features a tall x-height, and it has vertical metrics which guarantee equal space is present above the cap height and under the baseline. The latter makes this typeface an on-screen workhorse: it is evenly placed on buttons, inputs, lists, and forms. When coupled together, all the above features make Martian Mono a reasonable choice for any user interface design.
When choosing a font format, prefer ttf for variable and otf for static on macOS, and ttf for Windows.
Download
Download the latest package from the releases page or embed the font from Google Fonts.
Styles
Martian Mono consists of a variable font and 28 styles: Condensed to Semi Wide, Thin to Extra Bold.
The font has 4 styles on the width axis:
| Short name | Full name | CSS percentage | CSS keyword |
|---|---|---|---|
| sWd | Semi Wide | 112.5% | semi-expanded |
| Std | Standard | 100% | normal |
| Nr | Narrow | 87.5% | semi-condensed |
| Cn | Condensed | 75% | condensed |
And 7 weights:
| Short name | Full name | CSS numeric | CSS keyword |
|---|---|---|---|
| Th | Thin | 100 | |
| xLt | Extra Light | 200 | |
| Lt | Light | 300 | |
| Rg | Regular | 400 | normal |
| Md | Medium | 500 | |
| Bd | Bold | 700 | bold |
| xBd | Extra Bold | 800 |
OpenType features
Font size and legibility
Originally designed for the screen, the glyph heights stick to the pixel grid on commonly used font sizes. In addition, it comes equipped with OpenType and TrueType hinting, and Martian Mono appears legible on most platforms, even when being rendered in small sizes.
For the best results, use the following pairs of size / line height:
- 7.5 / 10 (or 14, 18, etc.) px
- 10 / 12 (or 16, 20, etc.) px
- 12.5 / 14 (or 18, 22, etc.) px
- 15 / 20 (or 24, 28, etc.) px
Usage
You are welcome to add more hints on usage (especially on the desktop) via pull requests.
On the Web
Download the woff2 package from the releases page to get the variable font in WOFF2 format (see WOFF2 support matrix between browsers).
Consult the following articles from Evil Martians' blog on how to use variable fonts:
- Variable fonts in real life: how to use and love them
- The joy of Variable Fonts: getting started on the Frontend
On the Desktop: choosing a variant
For better compatibility with various terminal emulators and text editors on the desktop, it is a good idea to install the font not as a single variable font but as several different fonts.
- Manually
- See the releases page, and download
otforttffiles. - Install the fonts.
- See the releases page, and download
- Windows
- See the releases page, and download
ttffiles. - Install the fonts.
- See the releases page, and download
- macOS
- See the releases page, and download
otf. Install the fonts. - Or, use Homebrew:
brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts brew install --cask font-martian-mono
- See the releases page, and download
Next, if your application has a font picker, just choose Martian Mono and the variant you require.
If the configuration is done using a text file, use Martian Mono for the default font variant (Martian Mono Std Rg), or try specifying the font name like MartianMono-NrRg for the Nr Rg variant.
Choosing a variant for a dark background
When choosing a font variant for a darker (or pitch black) background for your terminal or text editor, consider choosing a "lighter" variant if the font looks "too bold" to you. White font on a dark background can have that effect, see here for details.
For example, go for Std Lt instead of Std Rg.
On the Desktop: line spacing
Once you install the font and start using it, you might notice that the picture might look quite confined:
Instead, you might want to opt for something more readable and easy for the eyes if you like:
The difference is line spacing. Learn how to set it up below, and consult the Font size and legibility chapter to learn about the best setting. Or, experiment yourself by setting different percentages (120%, 140%) or paddings in pixels (1, 2, 4, and so on).
Terminal emulators
Terminal (macOS)
Preferences → Profiles → (choose a profile) → Text → Font → [Change]. You will be met with a font picker dialog that has the Line Spacing property.
iTerm 2 (macOS)
Preferences → Profiles → (choose a profile) → Text. Look for the n/n symbol that looks like a fraction. That's your line spacing, in percentage (100% is the default).
kitty
Open the config file (~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf). Look for the adjust_line_height property and see the documentation.
Text editors
VS Code
To specify values for variable axes, use editor.fontVariations:
// settings.json
{
"editor.fontFamily": "Martian Mono",
"editor.fontVariations": "'wdth' 87.5, 'wght' 450",
}Consider switching font aliasing method to auto for improved rendering on displays with high DPI:
// settings.json
{
"workbench.fontAliasing": "auto",
}Finally, fine tune line height (editor.lineHeight):
// settings.json
{
"editor.fontFamily": "Martian Mono",
"editor.fontSize": 12.5,
"editor.lineHeight": 20,
}vim
For setting line spacing in GUI versions of vim, see linespace/lsp.
Sublime Text
Open your preferences. Add the line_padding_top and line_padding_bottom parameters. Both set the padding for a line of text in pixels.
Roadmap
- Coding ligatures (work in progress)
- Cyrillic script for Bulgarian, Serbian, and Macedonian (work in progress)
- Powerline symbols (not sure)
- Italics (not sure)
Support
My name is Roman Shamin, and I work on Martian Mono in my spare time. If you want to support Martian Mono, oklch.com, and other free and open-source fonts, there are a few things you can do.
- Spread the word on social media by using the hashtag #MartianMono
- Buy Martian Grotesk on MyFonts or Gumroad
- Consider becoming a patron
I’m sincerely grateful for any support!
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