The Harmattan font is a sans-serif typeface designed by George W. Nuss III and SIL International specifically for writing languages using the Arabic script in West Africa. It is inspired by the Warsh style of Quranic calligraphy. It focuses on clear letterforms and ample spacing, making it easier to read and learn for languages with complex alphabets. The font modernizes the Warsh style by simplifying shapes while still retaining its angular letterforms and horizontal strokes. Harmattan is Unicode compliant, supporting a wide character set of 546, including symbols and extended alphabets with a glyph count of 1093, which are used in West African languages. The extended glyph set now supports the entire Unicode 15.0-character set. There are now four weights in the family of this typeface thanks to the addition of two more in 2023, including:
- Harmattan Bold
- Harmattan Regular
- Harmattan Medium
- Harmattan Semi-Bold
It has a simple design inspired by the Naskh script, which can be seen in its straight appearance. Moreover, the font gives a soft feel with rounded corners and curved edges. It also gives off the vibe of handwritten font because of the natural flow of its letterforms. The font’s legibility and simplicity make it suitable for educational materials like textbooks, and its soft nature makes it perfect for children’s books, branding, and more.
