There are many free and open source Nepali fonts that you can download and use to type Nepali language text on your computer, using an Input Method Editor (IME). In this article will talk about the 10 most popular Nepali fonts that are widely used in Nepal, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each font.
The Nepali font industry is one of the biggests in the world, with thousands of fonts created every year by graphic designers in Nepal and worldwide. With so many new fonts coming out on a regular basis, it can be hard to keep track of the best ones to use. This list will help you choose the right font for your next project, no matter what you’re using it for!
Top 10 Nepali Fonts
There are so many Nepali fonts on the internet that it can be quite confusing which one to use and when, especially if you’re new to the idea of typefaces and font styles. This guide will give you a list of 10 popular Nepali fonts and some tips on how to use them effectively in your design projects.
1. Kriti
Kirti (कीर्ति) is a widely used font in Nepal. It was created by Dr. Hari Prasad Devkota and first appeared in Nepal Bhasa magazine. Kirti has been registered as an ISC-Nepal Standard for Information Interchange and Transmission, which ensures that it is maintained according to internationally accepted encoding standards.
2. Prachanda
It’s an open source font named after Prachanda, a leader of Communist Party of Nepal. A free version and paid version are available. It is used to publish books and newspapers in Nepal. The font is registered under GNU GPL license.
3. Sujata
Sujata (also known as Lekh style) is one of Nepal’s oldest, most widely used and popular font. The Sujata Typewriter was invented by Prof. Rajendra Moktan in 1972. It was first used by ‘The Rising Nepal’ newspaper on June 19, 1972. This font can be seen in many milestones of Nepal’s history including declarations of republic and abolition of monarchy.
4. Kartik
Kartik was developed in 1994 by Prof. Basanta Lal Shrestha and Sudarshan Raj Tiwari of Nepal. It is an informal font that looks attractive and legible in both uppercase and lowercase letters, making it a popular choice for typography on websites and blogs. Its name is derived from kartik, which is a name of Hindu god Kartikeya or Murugan.
5. Jyoti
Jyoti is one of Nepal’s most famous fonts, having been used in every newspaper and publication over here. The font is thin and very readable in both print and on screen. Jyoti will always be timeless, as it has not changed much since its inception years ago. For example, it still has old looking numerals; 0,1,2 instead of Zero, One, Two. This makes it easy to read out loud without getting tongue-tied.
6. Narayana
Narayana is a sans-serif typeface used widely in Nepal. The font was designed by Krishna Satya Raj Tuladhar and his brother Mahabir Shrestha. They are nephews of Ratna Shumsher Rana, and grandsons of Chandra Shumsher JBR who ruled Nepal in early 20th century. Narayana was released on 17 May 2017, on occasion of Ratna’s 101st birth anniversary and Bhagawan Buddha’s 2,550th birthday.
7. Shree
This is one of Nepal’s most popular fonts. As in, they use it on all their money, documents, and government letters. It’s also pretty much a free font you can download anywhere and is used by most newspapers in Nepal to showcase stories. If you want a basic generic font, try Shree. It’ll be easy for any reader to read even if they don’t speak or read English very well.
8. Manjusha
Manjusha is a typeface developed by Inland Type Foundry in 2014. Its style is classified as Humanist, Transitional and Sans-Serif. It comes with seven styles: Regular, Italic, Semibold, Bold, Semibold Italic, Bold Italic and Black. It is suitable for body text but it can also be used for displaying a variety of texts including technical ones as well.
9. Dhawal
The Dhawal font was designed by Shree Lamsal in 2015, and is based on a lettering style from old Hindu scriptures. It’s easy to use and well-known for its familiarity; you may have seen it used for book covers, children’s books, or similar kinds of materials. One interesting feature of Dhawal is that it has three different weights: Light, Medium, and Bold.
10. Purwo
Available in 3 weights, it is one of the most popular sans-serif typefaces among web designers and typographers. The font was designed by Shahir Shahidsaless, who released it under a free license. The name Purwo comes from an old Newari term for rectangle or square (in reference to its appearance).
Conclusion
These are the top 10 Nepali fonts that you should try. There are many other Nepali fonts too that you can download and use. Let us know if you know some more good Nepali fonts.
