I'm a type designer and software engineer specializing in typography for Indic scripts, particularly Malayalam. My work focuses on creating beautiful, functional, and open-source typefaces that serve diverse typographic needs—from formal text to handwritten styles.
Each typeface is crafted with attention to the unique characteristics of Malayalam script, ensuring proper rendering, readability, and aesthetic appeal across print and digital media.
As an engineer by profession, I apply mathematical and engineering principles in the type design process. While I drew the glyphs of the older typefaces by hand, later ones are generated by programs where the shapes are expressed by mathematical definitions. I also introduce latest innovations in type engineering to my fonts such as variable and color fonts.
The typefaces I designed are part of day to day life of a Malayalam speaker. They are commonly found in newspapers, billboards, movie titles, memes, government orders, grocery packaging, invitation letters and so on. Most of these fonts are also available in Linux based operating systems.
Typefaces
Manjari
A contemporary sans-serif typeface with a gentle, rounded design. Perfect for body text, user interfaces, and digital content. Available in thin, regular, and bold weights.
Chilanka
A handwriting-style script that brings a personal, informal touch to your designs. Ideal for creative projects, greeting cards, and content that needs a human feel.
Nupuram
A versatile display typeface with distinctive character forms. Designed for headlines, branding, and any context where you need to make a strong visual statement.
Malini
An elegant typeface combining traditional aesthetics with modern functionality. Suitable for books, magazines, and formal publications.
Cocolata
A distinctive typeface designed with careful attention to the harmony between letterforms and spacing, perfect for both text and display use.
Research
As part of research on script and typography, I had written papers which are published in journals. I also frequently write articles on Malayalam typography.
- Malayalam Orthographic Reforms: Impact on Language and Popular Culture Paper. Proceedings of grafematik : Graphemics in the 21st century—From graphemes to knowledge, Pôle numérique Brest Iroise at Brest, France, on June 14-15, 2018.
- അക്ഷരങ്ങളുടെ ഡിജിറ്റൽ കാലം - അച്ചടിയിൽ നിന്ന് ഡിജിറ്റൽ ഫോണ്ടുകളിലെത്തിയ മലയാളത്തിന്റെ വർത്തമാനം Santhosh Thottingal അച്ചടിയുടെ ഇരുന്നൂറാം വാർഷികത്തിൽ ബെഞ്ചമിൻ ബെയിലി ഫൗണ്ടേഷൻ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ച പ്രബന്ധം Read the paper
- Spiral splines in typeface design: A case study of Manjari Malayalam typeface - Santhosh Thottingal, Kavya Manohar Proceedings of Typoday 2018 University of Mumbai. March 2018. Read the Paper
- Parametric type design in the era of variable and color fonts - Grapholinguistics in the 21st century - From graphemes to knowledge Read the paper
Free and Open Source
All typefaces are released under open-source licenses, free to use for personal and commercial projects. They are available through Google Fonts and can be downloaded directly from their respective project repositories.
The fonts are actively maintained and include support for the full Malayalam Unicode range, ensuring compatibility with modern web browsers and applications.