Engaging in Indigenous Type Revitalization: A graduate student's perspective

Typeface design plays a critical but often overlooked role in digital communication, particularly for Indigenous and minority languages, where the lack of accessible fonts can limit everyday language use. As a graduate student in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Master of Digital Media program, I undertook a practice-based research project to expand an open-source typeface to support Syllabic writing systems.

Seeking to broaden my skills beyond traditional design education, I took a professional sabbatical from my role as an in-house designer for the Ontario Government to pursue graduate studies. My goal was twofold: to deepen my technical and critical design skills and to create a practical, socially impactful font to support the needs of Indigenous language communities. By addressing both the aesthetic and functional challenges of Indigenous type design, my project contributes to the broader effort of preserving linguistic diversity in the digital age.

Confronting the challenges of indigenous typesetting

According to Statistics Canada, Indigenous identity and language in Canada is undergoing a massive change as a generation of elders and language keepers approach the end of their lives; nevertheless, there has also been a 27% increase in the number of Indigenous individuals learning traditional languages as a second language since 2016.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I developed a deeper understanding of how language can create barriers to information and digital media. Our in-house creative team was assigned with the task of quickly and efficiently communicating urgent safety information to Ontario’s diverse communities. We designed a staggering amount of public health communications in over 20 languages, including Indigenous languages that use the Syllabic script. Because of font incompatibilities and a lack of online resources, we struggled with Syllabic typesetting, relying heavily on the expertise of Indigenous translators for guidance. Following the pandemic, we learned of Typotheque’s collaboration with Indigenous communities through The Syllabics Project and I developed a keen interest in learning more about Indigenous languages and type design with the aspiration to support underrepresented languages. 

While in my first semester, I began the process of expanding an open-source font (Raleway) to include Syllabic characters as part of my major research project. Raleway serves as the primary typeface for branding and communications for the Ontario government, therefore expanding it to include the Syllabic script would support the province’s program and service delivery in Northern Ontario.

I used a practice-based research approach to answer the following question: How can syllabics be effectively integrated into existing fonts to support the accessibility, preservation and revitalization of First Nation and Inuit languages?

Learning from indigenous experts

As a colonial-settler of European-descent with no fluency in Indigenous languages or prior understanding of Syllabics, I engaged in one-on-one collaboration with a diverse group of researchers and consultants. This group included Indigenous writers, translators, type designers and experts in Syllabic orthography, many of whom are Indigenous to Turtle Island.

Since this project centred around Indigenous Peoples and languages, my goal was to apply decolonial methodologies and use Two-Eyed Seeing—a process of weaving together traditional Indigenous and mainstream western knowledges coined by Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall—to inform and guide my work. I acknowledge that, due to the limited timeframe of the project, my exposure to decolonial methods and Two-Eyed Seeing was primarily through academic literature authored by Indigenous scholars.

To broaden my understanding, I engaged in individual discussions with Indigenous educators and designers, both in person and virtually and watched videos and presentations by Indigenous teachers available online. I also enrolled in an experiential-learning-based elective course, Communication in an Indigenous Context, taught by Crow (Joanne DiNova) of the Couchiching First Nation. This course provided valuable insights into how Indigenous traditional teachings relate to contemporary issues of sovereignty and language revitalization.

Building a Syllabic Typeface: From theory to practice

Simultaneously with my research into First Nation and Inuit languages, I pursued the technical discipline of type design. Although I had experience customizing letters and symbols for logos and branding, full typeface development demanded a deeper understanding of letter construction, optical correction and consistency across glyph sets. In collaboration with my supervisor, I assembled an intensive self-directed curriculum combining foundational texts, specialized video lectures and practical type design exercises. To complement this, I enrolled in a five-week type design course, an experience that accelerated my proficiency through weekly critiques and applied assignments. This structured, iterative learning approach proved essential for bridging theoretical knowledge with the real-world demands of multi-script type design.

In any type design project, a considerable amount of time is spent simply drawing the glyphs and this project was no exception. I expanded Raleway by drawing the Syllabic characters to harmonize with the aesthetics of the existing Latin and Cyrillic glyphs. Typotheque’s November and Fedra typefaces, Google’s Noto project and popular Syllabic fonts like Euphemia were used as design reference for the Syllabic characters.

Upon completing the initial drawings in various weights, I sent PDF proofs to the Syllabic readers and type designers with whom I had collaborated and invited them to share detailed feedback or general insights regarding the project. The design reviewers provided valuable comments and suggestions, particularly by identifying inconsistencies in the weight and shape of several characters. They noted areas of improvement for visual consistency concerning glyph shapes, Bézier curve placement and spacing issues. I carefully documented the design process as part of my graduate thesis, so it might serve as a resource for others developing Syllabic typefaces.

Next Steps: Refinement and open-source distribution

With a completed prototype in several Indigenous languages, Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway), Nêhiyawêwin (Cree) and Inuktut, the updated font family will be further refined and proposed for use by the Ontario government. Following additional user testing, I will submit my expansion to Google Fonts for integration with the main branch of Raleway, with documentation of the Syllabic expansion process remaining available on the GitHub repository created for the project.

Digital fonts are foundational tools that enable Indigenous communities and younger tech-savvy individuals to learn, preserve and revitalize their traditional languages. Even as I have completed my studies, my goal in finalizing the Syllabic version of Raleway remains to create a practical and useful font family that offers increased choice and flexibility for Indigenous designers and Syllabic language users.

In the past five years, new resources about Syllabic type design and orthography have become available, including Google's Canadian Syllabic Font Knowledge articles, which are a beginner-friendly introduction to the topic.