Post #1572377

2026-04-14 07:19 UTC

@hexaitos There isn't a particular typeface that I would say is my favorite, mainly certain designers and foundries whose work sticks out to me. One such foundry is Ek Type, who have published a number of open-source typefaces in various Indian scripts. https://ektype.in/ Typotheque has a number of Devanagari fonts, mostly sans-serifs (see https://www.typotheque.com/fonts/devanagari). But out of those I like Lava Devanagari the most (https://www.typotheque.com/fonts/lava/devanagari). It feels very fresh and contemporary (the way the stroke endings are treated and the subtle decisions in the weight allocation), yet strongly rooted in the more traditional calligraphic origins of the script. Universal Thirst is another good foundry (https://universalthirst.com/). Their Gazette has quite a bit of valuable information.

Replies (1)

@melvian@dragonchat.org 2026-04-14 07:20

@hexaitos As far as individual designers go, there's two in particular that I personally look up to. Pooja Saxena was the first Devanagari type designer I came across and seeing her work was the first time I discovered that Devanagari could look cool as fuck. She is literally the whole reason I took interest in the script to begin with. In addition to working at TypeTogether and having led the adaptations of Adelle Sans (https://www.type-together.com/adelle-sans-devanagari-font) and very recently Bree (https://www.type-together.com/bree-devanagari-font), she also does custom work on her own as Matra Type (https://www.matratype.com/, some wonderful lettering work). AND she maintains an archive called India Street Lettering (https://indiastreetlettering.com/, which appears to be down atm?), which aims to document, well, street lettering in India, which is *incredibly* diverse. The importance of her work documenting this stuff cannot be underestimated, because while more common scripts like Latin and Cyrillic are well-documented in terms of established conventions and stylistic possibilities, the same cannot be said for Indian scripts. Also a book came out of it! (https://www.blaft.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/india-street-lettering) Anyway, I already would have greatly respected her if she just made typefaces, but the fact she goes a step further and actively documents extremely important things that had historically received almost no attention and gives people like me the means to shift a little further away from the Eurocentrism that permeates design teaching and documentation... I would go as far as to say that she's one of the most important type designers working today. Also, she's on Mastodon! (@matratype) Please please please go follow her if this stuff sounds interesting to you.

Open ##1572378