I released Dyspepsia on July 17, 1999. It was essentially a quick remix of Deftone Stylus, one of my earlier script designs. Where Deftone Stylus leaned back with a slanted rhythm, Dyspepsia was drawn upright and more condensed. The change gave it a structured appearance, but it also stripped away much of the energy that made the original work.

The font was never more than an experiment. I only created one style, and I never considered expanding it into a family. It didn’t see any use, notable or otherwise, and for many years I removed it from both the Larabie Fonts and Typodermic sites. In hindsight, it was one of my less ambitious designs, and I think of it more as a curiosity than as a serious project.

The name came from a word I picked up through David Letterman’s monologues, which often featured archaic terms like “logy” and “dyspeptic,” probably from Merrill Markoe’s influence. I liked the odd, uncomfortable sound of “dyspepsia,” which seemed fitting for a font that was awkward to use. Dyspepsia was released free for commercial use, and in August 2020 I placed it in the public domain.