Evolved from the Brahmi script, Devanagari is used to write Marathi, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Nepali, and remains an important Indic script used in South Asia and beyond. Its technological advances have been slow, and design advances are just starting to pick up. South Asia, and specifically India, has a multilingual cultural landscape, and it is not uncommon for street signs, periodicals, newspapers, and other printed ephemera to typically use two to three languages—English and a regional language or two, or two to three regional languages together. While Indian street signs have long featured beautifully painted, built, or set Devanagari signs, often integrating Latin numbers or words seamlessly, translating this to digital typesetting has not been an equally easy task, owing to the differences in setting the two scripts, the difference in anatomy and reading of the scripts, and the limited availability of Devanagari fonts as compared to Latin. There are also knowledge gaps in multilingual typesetting where a script is often forced to follow Latin typesetting principles. This write-up aims to develop a guide for effectively setting Devanagari alongside Latin type, while honoring the nuances of both scripts.
Continue readingCategory → News & Notes
24-Hour Hang *In*: March 8, 2026
Since 2019, Alphabettes has spent nearly every International Women’s Day doing what it does best: hastily dis-organizing a 24-hour online hangout across timezones and continents with a loose schedule that anyone on the internet was welcome to join. We’d take a virtual type walk around Mumbai with Tanya. We’d join Romina and friends in Mexico City for an 8M March with handlettered signs from her community poster-making workshops. We’d hear cool conference stories from Theresa in San Francisco. We’d chit chat in Spanish for an hour with Laura and Dafne and Caro. We’d say hi to pets and babies and make breakfast, lunch, and dinner together, all at once. In 2026? Instead of hanging out, some of us decided we’re hanging in. Or maybe, hanging on. We’re still here, but for now, it’s ok to hang up the internet for the day or hang out in other ways.
This International Women’s Day, I’ll be helping to bring a very hot soup to simmer. After two years of non-stop planning, writing, editing, organizing, emailing, type pairing, proofreading, and spreadsheeting, Alphabettes Soup: Feminist Approaches to Type, heads off to the printer very (very!) soon, after every tiny error has been uncovered in these 400 beautiful pages (🤞). Hang tight!
Looking Back and Ahead(er): Goodbye 2025, Hello 2026!
Let’s enjoy a look back at the headers featured here on Alphabettes.org in 2025:
Hespera (wip) typeface by Muk Monsalve — January 1 · @mukmonsalve
Typeface Don’t (wip) by Raven Mo — January 15 · @ravenmodesign
Thai, Crushual Italic by Boom Promphan S. · @boom.type
Arabic F37 Morta by Shaqa Bovand — February 15 · @shaqabovand
Georgian by Ana Sanikidze — March 1 · @wickedletters
Lettering by Brooke Hull — March 15 · @brookehull_designs
Aksan by Yaprak Buse Çağlar — April 1 @typolea
Rubina Typeface by Lora Shtirkova — April 15 · @loraincolors
Devanagari (WIP) by Lipi Raval — May 1 · @lipi.xyz
Hangul (WIP) by Joohee Lee — May 15 · @jooo.h
CMM Coda by Anna Cairns — June 1 · @a____cairns
Sumprat by Anne-Dauphine Borione (Daytona Mess) — June 15 · @daytonamess.otf
Palestine Still Bleeds — “Alphabettes” in Arabic by Omaima Dajani — July 1 · @omaima_dajani
Gustine Extra by Natalie Rauch — July 15 · @natalierauch
Vietnamese by Đông Trúc — August 1 · @do_ngtruc
Betania Patmos by Carolina Giovagnoli — August 15 · @laranadg
Party lettering by Carine Vadet-Perrot — September 1 · @carinevadetperrot
For the Flowers Crushed with Bombs — Alphabettes in Arabic by Maryam Golpayegani — September 15 · @golpayegani.maryam
Loew Next Devanagari by Amélie Bonet — October 1 · @ameacute
Vietnamese lettering by Xindha Yaeger — October 18 · @designedbyxin
Shariit by Nada Abdallah — November 1 · @nadabdalla
Mabuhay Display by Clara Cayosa — November 15 · @clarasees
Epitafio (in progress) by Mónica Rodiño — December 1 · @mrodinho
All past headers are archived here.
Thank you to Muk Monsalve & Amy Papaelias for keeping the headers flowing all year long. And endless thanks to our community and to all the incredible designers who shared their work with us this year.
Coming up real soon — Alphabettes Soup: Feminist Approaches to Type, our book that also features the 10-year archive of headers (Sept 2015–Nov 2025). To be published with Bikini Books in March 2026. Pre-order now!
Want to submit a header in 2026?
We warmly welcome submissions of type and lettering in all scripts, translations, and transliterations for the Alphabettes header. In-progress work, new releases, old things you found in your Desktop > DesktopGarbage > desktop folder.
Reach out via our contact page.
Cheers!
Font Licensing Mess
Este artículo está también disponible en español
Too often, we face the challenge of explaining font licences to students, customers, colleagues, or friends; it proves difficult every time. Back in 2023, we asked ourselves what could we do to improve our understanding of the topic and explain it better? We began collecting information from foundries, tons of data that is not only valuable for us but also for other type users, font makers, and educators. This article is a short introduction to the project and the information available in our website. We also post updates, from time to time, on social media.
Continue readingFont Licensing Mess
This article is also available in English
Más de una vez nos hemos encontramos con el desafío de explicar qué es y cómo funciona una licencia tipográfica. La respuesta no suele ser fácil. Hace un par de años, en 2023, nos propusimos profundizar en el tema para poder explicarlo mejor. Empezamos recopilando información de fundiciones; un montón de datos que serían útiles, no solo para nosotras, sino también para otras personas que utilizan fuentes, crean tipografías o trabajan en educación. Este artículo presenta un resumen y algunos resultados de este proyecto de investigación, en el que hemos estado trabajando durante casi dos años. Podéis encontrar más información en nuestra página web y recibir actualizaciones en redes sociales.
Continue readingHappy 10th Birthday, Alphabettes!
Today is Alphabettes.org’s 10th Birthday! On our first birthday, we celebrated with cake. On our fifth birthday, we celebrated with wood type. Five years later, we’re still here and this time, we’re celebrating the milestone with a book! Our book.
Alphabettes Soup: Feminist Approaches to Type
384 pages
100+ contributors
55 original articles, essays, and interviews
120+ typefaces by women and non-binary people
Feeling Seen, Eating Cake, Making Soup
It’s been over three months since the SEEN–Around the World Symposium, hosted at the LUX Pavilion and organized by Gutenberg University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Germany, April 9–11, 2025. Presented in a hybrid format, the conference brought together presentations and discussions with women and non-binary designers on topics related to typography, type design, and lettering. Rather than provide a detailed conference overview, here are some snapshots from the 3-day adventure, which included silly photoshoots with the Papa Gutenberg statue.
Continue readingMultilingüe 2025: Diseñando Futuros para las Lenguas Originarias
English below
En un mundo donde más de 7,000 lenguas luchan por sobrevivir, Multilingüe 2025 emerge como un espacio virtual y abierto para construir herramientas que preserven la diversidad lingüística de América. Este encuentro gratuito, que tendrá lugar el 23 de mayo a las 9:00 AM (hora del centro de México), reunirá a comunidades indígenas, lingüistas y diseñadores tipográficos para dialogar sobre revitalización lingüística, diseño inclusivo y justicia digital.
24 Hour Hangout for International Women’s Day 2025
What time is it? It’s time for our annual tradition: the Alphabettes 24-Hour Hangout to celebrate International Women’s Day! ⏰ From March 8, 2025 at 12:00am ET / 05:00 UTC to 11:59pm ET / 04:59 UTC 3/9, stop by for conversations on type, design, lettering, the universe, etc. Some times may be more spontaneous and chatty, other hours might be filled with activities and presentations.
>>>Join the Live Hangout!<<<
Note: We’ll be using Jitsi.
Continue readingBook Alert: Alphabettes Soup!
Next year, Alphabettes turns 10, and we’re celebrating with a pot-luck book! Alphabettes Soup: Ten Years of Feminist Approaches to Type will be served up — piping hot — in September 2025, published by Bikini Books, a feminist publisher based in Porto. Read all about it here: bikini-books.com/products/alphabettes-soup-2015-2025-ten-years-of-feminist-approaches-to-type
Help us make the Soup!
To date, we’ve raised about half of the total amount we need to bring this book to boil. We still have a long way to go, and this is where we’d love your help! All funds go to the printing and production, as well as offering honorariums to authors. You can also help us spread the word.
➤Are you a company, and would you like to sponsor this book? Reach out at sponsorships@bikini-books.com.
➤Are you an individual who would like to make a donation? 💚 DONATE VIA PAYPAL 💚
All sponsorships and donations will be acknowledged in the book. Every spoonful of your support helps! 🥄😘
Join the Alphabettes Soup Mailing List!
Receive updates on the book’s progress, pre-sale announcements, and invite you to our launch events. Stay tuned for next steps! 🥣😘👌💚
