Typography

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Devanagari type and lettering

Lesson 16 of 34 in Typography.

Issues with Devanagari Display Type — Sarang Kulkarni · TypeCon
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Devanagari en.wikipedia.org is used for more than 120 languages, Hindi among them, and is recognisable by the śirorekhā that runs along the top of its full letters. It is not an alphabet in the Latin sense. A consonant carries an inherent vowel, other vowels arrive as marks around it, and pairs of consonants combine into shapes that are neither of their parents.

latinbaseline sitsunderdevanagarihangs from theshirorekhaarabicruns along thebaseline, right tolefta shared baseline is a Latin assumption
Latin, Devanagari and Arabic aligned to different reference lines.
A matchbox label on a yellow ground: a tall sugarcane plant with a red and white banded stalk and green leaves, the name गन्ना in Devanagari beside it, PRICE RE.0-06 above, a band of blue water at the foot, and THILAGARAJ MATCH WORKS, SIVAKASI along the bottom.
A Sivakasi matchbox label that names its picture in Devanagari. Flat red, green and blue on yellow stay bright even on rough paper.Sugarcane, Indian matchbox label. Unrecorded designer, for an Indian match manufacturer.Wikimedia Commons/Public domain
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The horizontal line that runs along the top of full letters and binds a word together. Written शिरोरेखा.”

    • Retail licence
    • Shirorekha
    • Distributor
    • Foundry
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A vowel sign attached to a consonant, which may sit above, below, before or after it.”

    • Lettering
    • Calligraphy
    • Matra
    • Conjunct
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Two or more consonants fused into a single new shape, so the glyph count and the character count stop matching.”

    • Total cost of ownership
    • Conjunct
    • Exclusivity period
    • Custom typeface

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