GoKawiilTL;DR : Before you can start drawing a revival of a typeface originating from any mechanical system, you need to do the math.
The article below is typeset in “Selectric UN 11 Medium”, drawn by Jens Kutilek in late 2022/early 2023 based on IBM type style catalogues.
The IBM Selectric Composer
A New Kind of Typewriter
A well-worn early Selectric Composer.
Source: Peter Häll/Tekniska museet, CC-BY
In 1964, IBM worked on the construction of a new kind of typewriter.
Up to then, except for a very small number of models, all typewriters used monospaced fonts, which means each glyph takes up the same horizontal width. The i , I , and l had to be artifically widened by adding horizontal strokes; wide letters as M , m , W , and w had to be compressed horizontally.
The new Selectric Composer allowed letters to be assigned to one of seven spacing groups, which ranged in width from three to nine units per em.
A left-aligned overlay of the glyphs a, i, m, n, o, w, H, T, W from the Selectric UN typeface, with width indicators.
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