Grapholinguistics Proceedings 2024

In 2024, I presented a paper on “Parametric Type Design” based on the technology behind the Nupuram font at the Grapholinguistics conference in Italy. The proceedings of the conference—edited by Yannis Haralambous—are now published as a two-volume set. Print editions are available on Amazon, and free digital versions are accessible online. Grapholinguistics is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to the scientific study of written language, bringing together typographers, computer scientists, linguists, font designers, psychologists, archaeologists, and educators. ...

July 24, 2026 · 2 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Variable interpolatable smooth curves and outlines

I am a type designer using non-conventional approaches to type design. Since 2020, I have been experimenting with parametric type design approaches based on a modernized MetaPost approach. I have written extensively about this approach in this blog. I have also published a paper1 on that. One of the drawbacks of the MetaPost-based approach is that MetaPost is quite old, actually older than me. It was written in the 1980s. MetaPost was actually a modernization on top of MetaFont by Knuth. It did not have SVG support, but that was added in 2024. MetaPost is written in literate programming language WEB, then generating Pascal code from it. Hence the tooling and developer experience around it is quite suboptimal. Extending it is also almost impossible. ...

February 20, 2026 · 18 min · Santhosh Thottingal

svg2glif Rust library

I published svg2glif - a Rust crate to convert SVG vector graphics into UFO (Unified Font Object) GLIF format, making it easy to incorporate SVG artwork into font development workflows. Source code Library documentation I am migrating my python based type engineering workflow to rust (fontmake -> fontc) and this is one of the tool I need. ❯ target/release/svg2glif -i examples/A.svg -o examples/A.glif --em-size 1000 --descent 250 Wrote glif to examples/A.glif (took 187.36µs) Yes, 187.36µs 🚀😄 ...

December 15, 2025 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Grapholinguistics 2024

I presented a paper titled “Parametric type design in the era of variable and color fonts” in the Grapholinguistics conference 2024. The conference was held in Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice from 23rd to 25th October 2024. The conference was a hybrid event with both physical and virtual participation. G21C (Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, also called /gʁafematik/) is a biennial conference bringing together disciplines concerned with grapholinguistics and, more generally, the study of writing systems and their representation in written communication. The conference aims to reflect on the current state of research in the area and on the role that writing and writing systems play in neighboring disciplines like computer science and information technology, communication, typography, psychology, and pedagogy. In particular it aims to study the effect of the growing importance of Unicode with regard to the future of reading and writing in human societies. Reflecting the richness of perspectives on writing systems, G21C is actively interdisciplinary. It welcomes proposals from researchers from the fields of computer science and information technology, linguistics, communication, pedagogy, psychology, history, and the social sciences. ...

October 25, 2024 · 2 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Typoday 2023

I presented a paper titled “Modernizing Parametric type design - A case study of Nupuram Malayalam typeface” at Typoday 2023, Banaras Hindu University. Here is the link to paper(pdf): https://typoday.in/spk_papers/Santhosh_Thottingal_Typoday2023.pdf This is 16th edition of conference, hosted by Department of Applied Arts, Faculty of Visual Arts Banaras Hindu University. One of the memorables from the conference was my opportunity to meet Muthu Nedumaran. I had an incredible 2-hour conversation with him on fonts, curves, spacing and technology of Indian scripts. ...

December 8, 2023 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal

ആം ചിഹ്നം ഫോണ്ടുകളിൽ

ഏറെക്കാലമായി പലരും ചോദിക്കുന്ന ഒരു സംശയമാണ് അക്കങ്ങളുടെ കൂടെ ആം ചിഹ്നം എഴുതുമ്പോൾ വരുന്ന കുത്തുവട്ടം എങ്ങനെ കളയാമെന്ന്. 16-ാം, 18ാം തുടങ്ങിയ ഉദാഹരണങ്ങൾ. ഒട്ടുമിക്ക അപ്ലിക്കേഷനുകളുടെ പുതിയ പതിപ്പുകളിലും ഈ പ്രശ്നം കാണില്ല. ലിബ്രെഓഫീസിൽ പക്ഷേ ഈ പ്രശ്നം തുടരുന്നുണ്ട്. ഇതിനു പരിഹാരമായി ഫോണ്ടുകളിൽ ഒരു ചെറിയ പുതുക്കൽ നടത്തിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. മഞ്ജരി, ഗായത്രി, ചിലങ്ക, നൂപുരം ഫോണ്ടുകളുടെ പുതിയ പതിപ്പുപയോഗിച്ചാൽ ഈ പ്രശ്നം ഒഴിവാകും. പുതിയ പതിപ്പുകൾ smc.org.in/fonts എന്ന പേജിൽ നിന്നെടുക്കാം.

October 4, 2023 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal

MetaPost previewer

I created a simple MetaPost playground website mpost.thottingal.in where people can quickly write MetaPost code and preview the result. This avoids the need of setting up MetaPost in your computer. Your edits in the code will be automatically executed. This is part of exploration to use MetaPost for typeface design. Checkout the Nupuram and Malini typefaces designed using MetaPost. I also started a repository of various type design concepts illustrated using MetaPost: https://github.com/santhoshtr/type-concepts

October 4, 2023 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal