The term derives from the French word sans, meaning ‘without’. The earliest sans-serif letters date from 1809 and were found on English coins. The early 20th century saw growing interest in serifless forms, as an expression of new technological developments of the era. The sans-serif typefaces can be further divided into: <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/fonts/grotesque-sans">Grotesque</a>, <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/fonts/geometric-sans">Geometric sans</a>, <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/fonts/humanist-sans">Humanist sans</a>, <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/fonts/rounded-sans">Rounded sans</a>.
<a href="https://www.typotheque.com/articles/a_brief_history_of_sans_serif_typefaces">Read more about the history of sans serif typefaces.</a>

Sans

Professional sans serif fonts

Serif typefaces are often also referred to as roman typefaces, or Antiqua, as the origin of the serif can be traced to Roman inscriptional lettering. Since the serif typefaces are older than the slab or sans typefaces, they are often seen as more traditional and reliable. Serif fonts can be broadly classified into three subcategories:

Serif

Serif Fonts

Slab serif typefaces (also known as Egyptian type), inspired by the possibilities of the Industrial Revolution, were designed for display purposes to get the attention of the readers, with thick, blocky serifs. Examples of well-known slab serif typefaces include Clarendon (Fann Street Foundry, 1845) and Rockwell (Monotype, 1934). Explore the slab serif fonts, and their subcategories:

Slab

Slab-serif Fonts

They are generally designed for short texts, mainly for display purposes, and can be divided into formal cursive writing, and more casual, informal scripts, which are more expressive. Explore the subcategories of the script typefaces:

Script

Script Fonts

Display typefaces are designed to be more decorative and expressive, and is generally seeking the attention of the reader. Display fonts are typically spaced very tightly, and should be used in 18 points and larger. Common genres of display typeface include:

Display

Display Fonts

Instead of repeating translations of words, one can simply select a representative symbols that communicate across various languages and cultures, and is subject to fewer limitations than the written language. Each Typotheque font already includes plenty of symbols, arrows and pictograms. Some of our fonts go further and include many symbols and icons. Explore these fonts below:

Symbol

Dingbats and Symbol Fonts

The earliest Monospaced fonts appeared on typewriters, which moved the paper the same distance each time a key was typed, so letters needed to share identical widths. These ubiquitous fonts were designed to be utilitarian and sturdy, appearing in screenplays and official documents. Today, fixed-width fonts can be used in various typographic contexts, projecting an industrial, stark techno vibe. Examples of monospaced fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Monospaced

Monospaced Fonts

Global Fonts

Variable fonts is an update to the OpenType format that allows the inclusion of various pre-designed typeface styles in a single font file, while enabling the user to choose a font that lies somewhere in between the listed variations. Imagine, for example, that you want to make the Regular weight of a font just a little heavier, but not as heavy as the Medium. Variable fonts can do that. They are controlled by sliders, so the user can choose any variation along one or multiple design axes. Variable fonts benefits: ------------------------- Fine-typographic control Adjust font parameters in small increments for ultimate control without compromise. Small font file sizes Reduce webfont file sizes and increase the performance of your website by using a single variable webfont throughout. Text animations Stylistic variation of fonts are continuous, and can be animated for text transitions and special effects. Optimal legibility Our variable fonts contain size-specific variations which make the text superbly legible, optimised for any size. Limitless creativity Besides weight and width dials, our fonts contain innovative typographic options to help boost your creativity. Responsive type Variable fonts assist in tuning type according to different formats, resolutions and display sizes. ------------------------- Variation axes [live demos of variable fonts] Weight and Width Example font: November Variable Discover more fonts using our Weight and Width axes. Optical Size Example font: William Variable Discover more fonts using our Optical Size axis. Creative Design axes Example font: Wind Discover more fonts using our Creative Design axis.

Variable Fonts

We describe Smart fonts as typefaces with pre-designed intelligent behaviour, which are aware of their context and can react to the user’s typesetting and actions. For example, the font Mississippi can dynamically increase or decrease letter heights to control the visual undulation of words and short texts. In the same category, we also include typographic systems such as History, or Q Project that come with a very large number of shape variations or layering options. These fonts possess lots of potential for creativity and are highly expressive – great for cover art, posters and creative identities.

Smart Fonts

A superfamily is a category of related groups of fonts, for example, serif or sans font families, that share some design attributes but have different functions, making font pairing easy. The individual fonts in the superfamilies can either work by themselves or together to address complex text hierarchies. Such broad type design systems are typically designed to address multilingual typesetting, to give different languages different voices, to differentiate their roles, or to facilitate page navigation. <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/articles/related_type_families">Read an essay about related type families</a>.

Superfamilies

Typotheque offers a selection of fonts that are designed for optimal readability, accessibility and usability and which are exceptionally legible in very small sizes as well as for distance reading. These fonts are the result of our designers’ decades-long experience, and they benefit from research-based methods and real user testing, which have identified the proportions that make reading easier for texts containing critical information and for readers with impaired vision. Such Typotheque fonts have been used in car navigation, airport signage, underground wayfinding and dictionaries. We also recognise the importance of emotional accessibility – in other words, if the type is visually appealing, reading will be a positive and rewarding experience. Fonts designed for superior legibility typically have the following features: - Unambiguous forms Unique and easily distinguishable forms for better differentiation of letter shapes - Open forms and counters Open shapes prevent confusion, allowing a reader to accurately decipher text at a glance - Generous spacing Characters needs sufficient white space around them to prevent character crowding - Ample x-height Fonts with high x-heights appear larger and easier to read in shorter text

Legibility Fonts

High-legibility and accessible fonts

In the old days, when type was made from a physical material, letters were always designed in a specific size, which ensured the appropriate letter shapes for the given size. Today, digital fonts are scalable to any size, but the shapes may not work optimally for every size. That’s why we design Optical size variations of fonts, to prioritise functionality in small text sizes, and elegance and impact for larger ones, modifying font proportions, letter details, the contrast between thick and thin strokes, and spacing between letters for a particular range of type sizes. Examples of fonts with Optical sizes from the Typotheque collection:

Optical Sizes

Fonts with Optical Sizes

Often these characteristics are also called humanistic and can be expressed with both sans and serif typefaces. Examples of Organic fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Organic

Organic Fonts

Clarity, minimal detail and natural proportions of letters help the reader to perceive letters as clean, unobtrusive and communicative. Examples of Clean fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Clean

Clean Fonts

Some fonts are designed for optimal readability, and some push the envelope, deliberately operating outside of the usual comfort zone.

Experimental

Experimental Fonts

Designed for strong visual impact, they move away from a static form of text and may incorporate movement through the use of variable font technology, ideal for video animations. Examples of Dynamic fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Dynamic

Dynamic Fonts

Highly expressive typefaces are sometimes called artistic, as they focus on style and recognisability, with the shapes of letters amplifying the meaning of the text.

Artistic

Artistic Fonts

These typefaces are inspired by informal, gestural handwriting, bringing attitude and unique character to text. Examples of Casual fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Casual

Casual Fonts

The typefaces are pleasantly harmonious, with well-balanced proportions rooted in traditions, and are suitable for almost any text. Examples of Classic fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Classic

Classic Fonts

While most typefaces are purely functional, and try not to draw too much attention to themselves, there are some fonts that are designed to stand out, with their strong personality. Examples of Fun fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Fun Fonts

Delicate typefaces make active use of white space, and are typically light in stroke weight, with refined curves and sophisticated details. Examples of Delicate fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Delicate

Delicate Fonts

Typefaces can be either written or constructed, and often for the latter, technology-inspired fonts use geometry and industrial heritage. Examples of Technical fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Technical

Technical Fonts

Clear differentiation of letters, confident construction of shapes, simple details and the right balance between personality and practicality results in reliable, highly functional fonts for utilitarian typography. Examples of Reliable fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Reliable

Reliable Fonts

Chromatic effects can be achieved with colouring styles of traditional black &amp; white fonts, or with the use of colour fonts, which contain predefined colour palettes. Examples of Chromatic fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Chromatic

Chromatic Fonts

Body copy is usually set in a relatively small size, between 8 and 11 points in print. Text fonts are generously spaced, with plenty of white space inside and around the letters. In general, serif fonts are preferred for lengthy text in books and newspapers. However, there are also a number of sans serif fonts that are suitable for continuous text, so explore both options before making a decision. Typically, fonts with high x-height perform well in small sizes.

Body Text

Legible Fonts for Long, Continuous Text

Headline typefaces are designed to be more decorative and expressive, and is generally seeking the attention of the reader. These fonts are typically spaced very tightly, and should be used in 18 points and larger. Common genres of headline typeface include:

Headlines

Headline Fonts for visual impact

Traditionally, newspaper printing was of rather poor quality, and required typefaces that are resistant to distortions of the rotary press. While high legibility typefaces are often fairly wide, newspapers often choose narrower fonts to fit more letters into a line of text. Take a look at real newspaper projects and note which fonts they have chosen. Examples of newspaper fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Newspapers

Fonts for newspaper in print and on screens

Magazine fonts typically come in a range of styles that are suited to both headlines and body text, and may have a range of Optical sizes. Editorial projects often combine serif and sans serif fonts on one page, so a superfamily containing both is often a great choice for the requirements of modern publishing. Take a look at real magazine projects and note which fonts they have chosen. Examples of magazine fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Magazines

Magazine Fonts

Unlike fonts designed for ultimate readability, which tend to be fairly unobtrusive, fonts that are used to build a brand have strong design characteristics that can support the identity of the organisation, injecting a clearly defined personality into the typeface, so the identity is both easily recognisable and memorable. Take a look at real branding projects and note which fonts they have chosen. Examples of branding fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Branding

Fonts for visual Identities and Brands

Fonts for on-screen reading are clean and simple in form, and are optimised for small point sizes, with large x-height and generous spacing between letters to avoid the crowding of characters on low-resolution screens. Fonts for easy reading online may also contain TrueType hinting instructions, for superior rendering on computer monitors. Examples of on-screen fonts from the Typotheque collection:

On-screen Reading

Fonts for reading on screen

While early monospaced fonts appeared on typewriters, today the fixed width, monospaced fonts are primarily used to write code, in command-line interfaces, with shapes optimised for lower resolution, and easy differentiation of characters. Examples of coding fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Code

Coding Fonts

These signage fonts maximise legibility in shorter text, and differentiate the shapes of letters for optimal recognisability even in difficult reading conditions. Fonts for distance reading tend to have large x-height, and have more white space around letters to prevent character crowding. Examples of wayfinding fonts from the Typotheque collection:

Wayfinding

Fonts for Signage and Wayfinding

Width

x-height

Contrast

Arabic script is used to write Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Ottoman Turkish, Hausa, Punjabi, Malay, Kurdish, and a wide range of other languages worldwide, by over 600 million people. Observant Muslims can generally read the Arabic script as well. It is one of the most widely used scripts in the world. The Arabic script derives from the ancient Nabatean script, with the Syriac script influencing its development. Both were descendants of the older Aramaic script. Letters of the same word are written flowing into one another in cursive fashion, and can have up to four distinct forms based on word position: isolated, initial, medial and final. Isolated letters do not combine with others.
Diacritics are used to represent short vowels, consonant variation and more. Since the script is used to write a wide range of languages, it includes numerous diacritics, additional letters and even modified letter forms across its linguistic range. Many of these are particular to specific linguistic traditions, and are obscure elsewhere. A range of different writing styles are used, often with variations in cursive flow as well. For example, while text in Naskh has a linear cursive flow, text in Nastaliq gradually descends to the baseline from above.

Script Classification

Letter Case

Commonly Used Quotation Marks

Numerals

Earliest Recorded Usage

Used to Write

Added to Unicode

Arabic

Fonts supporting the Arabic Script

This script is used to write Armenian, in Armenia and the worldwide Armenian diaspora, by around 10 million people. Historically, the Armenian script was also used to write Greek, Ottoman Turkish and Kurdish. The Armenian script is traditionally considered to have been invented by a Christian teacher, Mesrop Mashtots, in the early 5th century. It was most likely modelled on the Greek script, and follows its letter order. Only majuscule letters existed initially, with minuscule variants being developed in the 12th century. Punctuation marks for exclamation, emphasis and interrogation are represented as diacritics, as opposed to appearing independently at the end of sentences. They combine with vowel letters in words to indicate a change in tone.
Two parallel orthographic traditions exist, Reformed (Eastern) and Traditional (Western), with minor differences between certain letterforms. The Reformed orthography is used in Armenia itself.

Armenian

Fonts supporting the Armenian Script

Bangla (over 230 million speakers) is the official language of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. Assamese (over 15 million speakers) is the official language of the Indian state of Assam. Emerging in the 14th century CE from the ancient Siddhamātrk̥ā script, it is related to the Odia script. Similar to Devanagari, it features a horizontal top line that characters hang from. This script is also widely used across East and Northeast India as well as Bangladesh to write various minority languages, including Bodo, Kokborok, Karbi and Sylheti. As a result, one can encounter modified characters particular to one written tradition but that are obscure elsewhere. The work of Rabrindranath Tagore, the world-famous Bangla-language poet and Nobel laureate, was originally written in the Bangla script.

Bangla

Fonts supporting the Bangla-Assamese Script

Cherokee

Chinese characters are used to write Chinese languages, including Mandarin (Standard Chinese), Cantonese, Hakka, Sichuanese, Taiwanese and Wenzhounese. They are also used for writing Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. As a logographic script, each character originally represented one grammatical unit of meaning. While many characters representing basic concepts developed as pictographs, others modified these basic characters to form new ones with similar pronunciations or meanings. Over 85% of characters are semanto-phonetic, meaning they combine elements indicating pronunciation values and semantic ideas. Classical Chinese literary culture spread to Japan, Korea and Vietnam, and with it, so did Chinese characters. Linguistic reforms in 20th-century China and Japan introduced simplified character variants for many Chinese characters. Simplified Chinese characters are used in China, Singapore and Malaysia, while traditional Chinese characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Simplified Japanese variants are used in Japan. In Japanese and Korean, characters are used in tandem with native syllabaries. Different linguistic traditions employ different conventions for writing characters, with variation in appearance, stroke order and stylisation.

Chinese

Fonts supporting the Chinese Script

Cyrillic is used to write a wide variety of languages, including Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Tatar, Kazakh, Tajik, Chechen, Bashkir, Dungan, Ossetian, Chukchi, Mari, Adyghe and Mongolian. Cyrillic was also used to write many other languages in the former Soviet Union that have switched to Latin since its dissolution, including Moldovan, Uzbek, Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Crimean Tatar. Cyrillic originated as a variant of Glagolitic, a script developed by the Macedonian St Cyril (after whom Cyrillic is named), to spread Christian teachings to Southern Slavic speakers. Russian letterforms are generally taken to be the default in digital fonts, although writing traditions of Serbian, Bulgarian and Macedonian employ certain distinct letterforms, which can be controlled by the OpenType layout features in fonts.

Cyrillic

Fonts supporting the Cyrillic Script

Altogether, these languages have over 615 million speakers. In addition, numerous minority languages in India and Nepal are written in Devanagari, including Bodo, Gondi, Bhojpuri, Braj Bhasha and Newari. Since Devanagari is used across such a wide range of languages, the script includes extended vowel and consonant characters, alternate character forms, and additional vowel and consonant diacritics. Today, it is used across India for administrative purposes. It is also commonly used in films produced by Bollywood, India’s Hindi-language cinema industry. Read this extensive <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/articles/devanagari-the-makings-of-a-national-character">Essay about the history of the Devanagari script</a>

Devanagari

Fonts supporting the Devanagari Script

This script is used to write the Georgian language, by over 3.5 million people, as well as for writing other Kartvelian languages in the Caucasus, including Mingrelian and Svan. Its origins are unclear, although legends attribute it to King Pharnavaz of ancient Kartli. The script was likely modelled on the Greek script and follows its alphabetical order, like the Armenian script.
Four writing style variants for the script exist: ancient Asomtavruli letters, scribal Nuskhuri letters (often used alongside Asomtavruli letters), Mkhedruli letters and Mtavruli letters. Each variant has its own distinctive elements and is used for different functions, and represents evolution in letterforms.
Contemporary writing in the script primarily uses Mkhedruli letters, although Mtavruli letters are often used for titles, headings and in similar contexts. Letter case in Georgian is more accurately described as represented using these two different writing styles in tandem, i.e. Mkhedruli for general use and Mtavruli for emphasis. Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri letters are no longer widely used.

Georgian

Greek script is used to write the Greek language (across its various historical phases), as well as Ottoman Turkish, Albanian, Karamanli Turkish, etc. Individual letters are also used as mathematical, linguistic and scientific symbols. The Greek script emerged from the Phoenician script, an abjad. Letterforms were first standardised around 402 BCE. The script was expanded during the Byzantine period: minuscule letterforms and new diacritics were introduced. Two orthographic standards exist: monotonic and polytonic. The polytonic system features diacritics for breathing variation and multiple tones, while the monotonic system limits itself to one tone mark. Monotonic Greek was devised in an orthographic reform in 1982. Polytonic Greek continues to be used in representations of older Greek-language texts, and in some special contexts for the modern Greek language itself.

Greek

Fonts supporting the Greek Script

This script is used to write Gujarati, a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 56 million people and the official language of the Indian state of Gujarat. It is also used to write Kacchi, a local minority language. The script evolved from a shorthand form of the Devanagari script, which was used by scribes and merchants. During this period, Gujarati was widely used alongside Devanagari, gradually replacing it from the 1800s onwards. It is closely related to other shorthand descendants of Devanagari, including Modi and Kaithi, all of which lack the characteristic śirorekhā, or top horizontal line, of Devanagari.
The earliest recorded example of the Gujarati script is a manuscript from c. 1592 CE. Asia’s oldest continuously published newspaper, the Gujarati-language Bombay Samachar (founded in 1822 in British Bombay), has been printed in the script ever since the paper’s inception. Mahatma Gandhi, a native Gujarati speaker, used the script in his countless Gujarati letters and manuscripts.

Gujarati

Punjabi speakers in Pakistan use the Nastaliq variant of the Perso-Arabic script instead. Gurmukhi descends from the ancient Śāradā script, and took shape in the 1600s under the tutelage of the Sikh Gurus. Unusually for a Brahmic script, Gurmukhi has very restrictive character conjunct rules, as well as a relatively smaller character set. The script does not follow the Sanskritic model adhered to by most other Brahmic scripts, showing some influence from the Arabic script in its ordering and some character functions. The Gurmukhi tradition is closely linked to the Sikh faith, native to Punjab. The name Gurmukhi is a reference to the Gurus of Sikhism, the founders of the faith, who are also credited with popularising and propagating Gurmukhi. Sikh scripture was composed and is read in Gurmukhi.

Gurmukhi

Fonts supporting the Gurmukhi Script

Hebrew script is used to write Hebrew, as well as Yiddish, Ladino, Juhuri and other Jewish community languages, by over 10 million people. The Hebrew script descends directly from the Aramaic, but was heavily influenced by the earlier Paleo Hebrew script. Both of these were descendants of the Phoenician script. Certain Hebrew letters have alternative final variants, used when these letters appear at the end of a word. These final letter variants use their own codepoints. As with other Semitic scripts, short vowels are usually left unmarked in writing. However, vowel diacritics also exist, and are often used to disambiguate text and assist in reading. Other diacritics mark consonant variation. Liturgical texts use cantillation markers, diacritics marking accentuation and melody for recitation purposes. These texts also use special punctuation marks. The Hebrew script is one of the world’s oldest scripts still currently in use. Its centrality to Judaism is responsible for the script’s continued usage by linguistically diverse Jewish communities across the world.

Hebrew

Japanese Kana is used primarily to write the Japanese language. Also used for Ainu, Okinawan languages, and Taiwanese Hokkien.
Katakana and hiragana are parallel scripts, broadly representing the same set of Japanese syllables, formed from combining vowel and consonant phonemes, or vowel phonemes or n in isolation. Nearly every letter has an exact counterpart in the other script.
Diacritics are used to represent phonetic contrasts, and there is a set of digraphs formed with smaller letterforms. Other letters exist for certain archaic and non-Japanese language syllables. Spacing is normally absent, and full-width punctuation markers are used. Hiragana emerged as simplifications of cursive Chinese characters based on their man'yōgana readings, whereas katakana were adapted from individual character elements. In many cases, both the hiragana and katakana letters for the same syllable derive from the same original Chinese character, such as て and テ (te) from 天 (ten). Japanese language text generally features katakana, hiragana and Chinese characters (Kanji) used in tandem, the choice of script fulfilling different grammatical and sociolinguistic purposes. For example, while most verb stems are written using Chinese characters, inflectional endings are written with hiragana. Katakana is generally used with Western-language loanwords.

Japanese

Kannada script is used for writing Kannada, a South Dravidian language spoken by approximately 45 million people and the official language of the Indian state of Karnataka. The Kannada script is also used to write multiple minority languages spoken in Karnataka, including Tulu, Konkani, Byari and Kodava. It is closely related to the Telugu script. The two scripts were largely indistinguishable from one another throughout much of their history. Special vowel marking conventions exist for minority languages written in the script, to represent vowel phonemes absent in Standard Kannada itself. The oldest recorded sample in Kannada is the Halmīḍi inscription of c. 450–500 CE. The script was also traditionally used to write Sanskrit.

Kannada

Hangul script is used to write Korean by over 75 million people.
Hangul is notable for having been consciously invented as an intuitive, easy-to-learn script, under the aegis of King Sejong of Joseon, in 1443 CE. Links to other scripts have been theorised, but are mostly tenuous. Basic Hangul letters or jamo – used to write 14 consonants and 10 vowels – are representations of the places of articulation involved in producing their sounds, such as ᄆ depicting the lips, for the labial sound m. Modifications to these basic jamo then form jamo-representing similar sounds.
Constituent jamo largely show minimal modification in shape when combined. Each syllabic character block begins with a consonant jamo, including a null consonant jamo for vowel-only syllables.
Traditionally, Chinese characters were also employed in Korean writing, in the same text alongside Hangul. Although they are still used in certain contexts, the shift has been towards Hangul-only writing.

Korean

It is probably the most used script in the world. The script evolved from the Etruscan script, a descendant of the Greek script. Many Greek letterforms were borrowed unchanged. The oldest recorded written samples in the script date back to stone and metal inscriptions from the 6th century BCE. Letterforms were standardised during the Roman Republic (510–27 BCE), largely evolving into the ones still in use today. From medieval times onwards, European colonialism brought the script to language communities outside its traditional home in Europe, from Polynesia to South America, from Siberia to Southern Africa. Some languages are switching to the script even in modern times.

Latin

Fonts supporting the Latin script

The Malayalam script is a Southern Brahmic writing system primarily used to represent Malayalam, a South Dravidian language, the official language of the Indian state of Kerala, spoken by around 35 million people. It is also used to write Konkani and indigenous languages like Paniya. The script is closely related to the Tulu (Tigalari) script, and retains mutual intelligibility with it. Both are descendants of the classical Grantha script, used to write Sanskrit and Old Tamil. Two orthographies of Malayalam – traditional and reformed – exist in parallel, with differences in diacritic forms and conjunct formation rules. <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/articles/malayalam-scripting-tradition-and-modernity">Read this extended article about the tradition of Malayalam script and its evolution in the face of modern technologies.</a>

Malayalam

Fonts supporting the Malayalam Script

Meetei Mayek is used to write Meetei (also known as Meitei or Manipuri), a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by approximately two million people. Meetei is the official language of the Indian state of Manipur. Meetei Mayek is distantly related to the Tibetan script, and is recorded from the mid 11th century onwards. It was largely replaced by the Bangla script in the early 18th century, and was mostly unused until its mid 20th-century revival by Manipuri intellectuals. After centuries of neglect, Meetei Mayek is now taught in schools in Manipur. Since this is an ongoing process, not all Meetei speakers are literate in the script. Its orthography is in a state of flux, since it is still in the process of being revived and standardised, and spellings can vary from writer to writer. The script is often used alongside the Bangla-Assamese script in the same text.

Meetei

Fonts supporting the Meetei Mayek Script

The Odia script is a Northern Brahmic writing system primarily used to represent Odia (previously also known as Oriya), an Eastern Indo Aryan language. Odia is the official language of the Indian state of Odisha, spoken by around 38 million people. It is also used to write local indigenous languages like Santhali and Ho. The Odia language was one of the first modern Indo Aryan languages to be written down, under the local Eastern Ganga kings. The earliest recorded written sample in the script dates back to c. 1059 CE. The Odia script descends from the ancient Siddhamātr̥kā script, and is related to the Bengali-Assamese script. Unfortunately – and somewhat ironically – the Odia script was among the last major Indic scripts to be supported by digital devices, including mobiles running on Android.

Odia

Fonts supporting the Odia script

The Ol Chiki script is used to write Santali (or Santhali), an Austro-Asiatic language spoken by around 7.6 million people mostly in Central and Eastern India. Santali is not an official language in any of India’s states, but is recognised by India’s Constitution. Unlike other Indian scripts, Ol Chiki is an alphabetic script, with distinct letters representing consonants and vowels. Ol Chiki was devised in 1925 by Raghunath Murmu, a native Santali speaker, partially using signs and symbols culturally familiar to Santali speakers. Over the decades, the script gained traction among both native speakers and institutional bodies, and in the 1970s, local schools began teaching Ol Chiki. It was accepted by the Indian government and universities shortly afterwards. In a parallel development, a burgeoning print culture in Ol Chiki emerged, and writing in the script has spread to digital platforms as well. Despite this, only a minority of Santali speakers are literate in Ol Chiki, although this is likely to change.

Ol Chiki

Fonts supporting the Ol Chiki Script

The Sinhala script is primarily used to write Sinhala (also Sinhalese), an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 17 million people. Sinhala is one of the official languages of Sri Lanka. The Grantha script, historically used to write Tamil, greatly influenced the development of the Sinhala script. The emergence of the Sinhala script is tied to the early cultivation of Sinhala language literature around the 8th century. Numerous medieval Buddhist manuscripts and royal inscriptions from Sri Lanka are in the Sinhala script.

Sinhala

Fonts supporting the Sinhala Script

The Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics – colloquially referred to as ‘Syllabics’ by local communities – are used to write Indigenous languages in Canada and the United States, including Cree, Inuktitut in Eastern and Western Nunavut and Nunavik, Ojibwe, Blackfoot, Naskapi, Carrier, Sayisi Dene, as well as many of the Déné languages. They are encoded as the Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics (UCAS) in the Unicode Standard. Distinct full stop and hyphen marks exist in Syllabics typography in some languages’ typographic preferences, and should be used in place of the Latin marks. The Algonquian languages (Cree, Ojibwe, Naskapi, etc.) tend to use the Syllabics full stop (᙮), while Inuktitut and the Déné languages use the Latin full stop (.). There is a high degree of variability across Syllabics-using communities in local typographic preferences. As a result, a UCAS font that may be suitable for accommodating the typographic preferences of one language may not be so for another, even though the necessary characters are present within the font. Read more about <a href="https://www.typotheque.com/articles/syllabics-typographic-guidelines">Syllabics typographic guidelines and local typographic preferences</a>, or <a href="https://vimeo.com/668229334">watch the documentary film</a> about the process of Indigenous language revitalisation and preservation efforts in North America

Syllabics

Fonts supporting the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics

The Tamil script is used to write Tamil, a South Dravidian language spoken by approximately 75 million people, and which is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is also one of the official languages of both Sri Lanka and Singapore and widely used in Malaysia. In Tamil Nadu, the script is also used to write minority languages like Badaga, Irula and Saurashtra. Unlike most other Indic scripts, Tamil does not feature conjunct characters. It also has a noticeably reduced range of letters compared to other Brahmic scripts, often making accurate phonetic representation tricky. The Tamil script developed from the 6th century CE onwards. Tambirān Vaṇakkam, the first printed book in any Indian script, was published in Tamil in 1578. Medieval-era Tamil script inscriptions can also be found across Southeast Asia, spread by Tamil-speaking kings, merchants and pilgrims.

Tamil

Used to write Telugu, a South Central Dravidian language spoken by approximately 81 million people, Telugu is the official language of the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Significant numbers of Telugu speakers live in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The script is also used to write Gondi, a minority language spoken in Telangana. The Telugu script largely shares its character forms with the Kannada script. Both scripts share a long common history. The Erraguḍipāḍu inscription, of c. 575 CE, is the earliest recorded inscription in Telugu. Late medieval rulers under the Vijayanagara Empire issued Telugu inscriptions in the Tamil and Kannada regions too, taking the script beyond its own linguistic region and leaving behind numerous manuscripts and inscriptions. Telugu speakers also wrote Sanskrit using the script, well into modern times.

Telugu

Fonts supporting the Telugu Script

Thai script is used primarily to write the Thai language, and minority languages in Thailand, including Isan, Southern Thai and Northern Thai. It is also used to write Pali and Sanskrit, the scriptural languages of Theravada Buddhism. The script is ultimately descended from the Pallava script of South India, via an ancient form of the Khmer script. It is also closely related to the Lao script. Unlike most other Brahmic scripts, there are no independent vowel letters, and no conjuncts representing consonant clusters. Tone markers represent the tonal system of the Thai language. Tone and vowel diacritics are often stacked together on a consonant letter, potentially making combined characters much taller than their base forms. Word boundaries are not marked by spacing. Spacing is used instead to indicate phrase breaks, and punctuation marks are used to mark paragraph and text segment breaks. Communities across Thailand used various local variants of the Thai script for centuries, some with their own distinct evolution, before modern Thailand’s linguistic standardisation policies made them obscure.

Thai

Formal pointed pen script typefaces from Typotheque for calligraphic invitations and announcements. Download and try out formal script fonts from Typotheque.

Formal pointed pen script fonts from Typotheque

Light

Dash Casual Variable

Dash is a connected script typeface that comes in four writing speeds. Dash Slow is the most restrained version, based on our research carried out into educational handwriting models. It is a carefully written form, and an expression of universality and collective memory.

Dash Slow

Regular

Brenner Script Variable

The extravagant Brenner Script is part of the Brenner superfamily, combining seemingly unrelated styles into one remarkably harmonious family. Brenner Script has an unorthodox, disconnected style reminiscent of the café signage of the Mediterranean coast.

Brenner Script

Informal Regular

Manu Variable

Manu is a sophisticated handwriting font based on the fluid, casual writing in three styles: Formal, a slow, careful writing that humanises printed type; Informal, fast, uninterrupted style; and Emphasis, a resolute, all-capitals display type, and a handy set of symbols.

Manu

Formal scripts are based on the types of writing developed mainly in the 17th and 18th centuries, which used a pointed metal pen or a quill, with visible contrast between thick and thin strokes, controlled by the pressure of the pen.

Formal Script Fonts