A new wave that provides 'fonts' in a variety of Indian languages

UN data of 2016According to India, the population of India is about 1.3 billion, which is the second largest population in the world after China. In such India, at least30 languagesThere are languages ​​which are said to be around 2000 in the whole country including dialects. Different languages ​​use different characters, so in India where so many languages ​​exist, there is a fact that there are not so many "fonts" choices compared to other countries (languages). Efforts are under way to overcome such a situation and increase diversity.

The New Wave of Indian Type - Library - Google Design
https://design.google/library/new-wave-indian-type-design/

With the spread of computers and smartphones, the environment where many people can access the Internet among India is spreading. When various kinds of contents are provided, the need for "display of more versatile contents" is gradually rising. One of countermeasures is to use fonts with more design, but this is not so easy in India where there are many languages.

One of those working on such a problem is Mr. Girish Dalvi, a typeface designer who works based in Mumbai, eastern India. Mr. Dalvi is also a professor of design at the Indian Institute of Technology and is also a co-founder of Ektype, an organization that enhances font design in India.

Ektype | Home page
https://ektype.in/


About Diversity of Culture and Language in India Dalvi cites "Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges" "India is bigger than the world", "While India is a very diverse country, India is only 500 miles Just move (about 800 km), the words and letters used are completely changed, and the design will change accordingly. "

Designer Suman Bhandary who works based in the capital city of Delhi is widely used in northeastern IndiaBengaliI designed the font "Mina" of the letters used in. This character is an open source font for Latin charactersExoIt is made based on the font which is high in design which left the nuance of Exo which is written in the bottom.


Efforts to create fonts for local characters based on existing fonts like Mina are done all over the world, and Sri Lankan character designer Tharique Azeez also made a font for Tamil "Pavanam"Or"Kavivanar"Has been created and opened to the public. Azeez realized that there was little font for his or her language and thought that "everything looked the same", he said he started developing more versatile fonts.

Movements to design fonts more comprehensively are also born. Ektype to which Mr. Dalvi belongs as a font covering multiple languages ​​such as Hindi, Gujarati, TamilMuktaWe are offering.

Mukta says he is providing fonts for the five most used letters in India. Used in languages ​​such as EnglishLatin scriptThere is this.


Spoken to the most people in IndiaHindiFonts for.


It is used in Gujarat Province in western IndiaGujarati. "Hane" before and after the line is characteristic.


Used by Tamils ​​in South IndiaTamilFonts.


It is used in the area that contacts Pakistan in northwest IndiaPunjabiUsed inGurmukhi characterFonts. Gujarati, Tamil language, Punjabi are included in 22 designated languages ​​separately from Indian official language.


The most difficult thing about creating these fonts was that it was how to secure the features of the details of each letter. Even in a curve that seems to be looking the same, details such as the presence or absence of a space in it are separated by language, so that it has a consistent image as a member of "Mukta" without damaging its features It seems it was difficult.

Mukta is provided as an open source, so characters derived from it are also born. "Baloo" is also one such font, based on Mukta is adding a new personality by giving its originality to the line width and end design process.


About this kind of movement Dalvi says, "We have not learned about character design, they are all born of programming, hacking, and the act of breaking something." Although it is the font "Mukta" created in this way, the developer's thoughts are included in the name. Mukta seems to be named for words meaning "freedom", "open" and "liberation".