# Harmattan font

> An Arabic-script family in the Warsh style for West African languages, in four weights with a Latin sans.

Harmattan is an Arabic-script typeface from SIL International, designed in a Warsh style for the languages of West Africa that are written in Arabic letters. Harmattan has four weights from Regular to Bold and 1,788 glyphs, with a humanist sans serif for basic Latin. Harmattan carries the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits books and other text.

## Facts

- Classification: [Sans Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/sans-serif)
- Designed by: SIL International
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 4 (Regular 400, Medium 500, SemiBold 600, Bold 700)
- Variable font: No
- Glyphs: 1788
- Character sets: arabic, latin
- Last updated: 2025-09-16
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Harmattan
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/harmattan
- Tagged for: Body text, Editorial

## About Harmattan

Harmattan is a typeface for Arabic script, named after the dry winter wind of West Africa and shaped by the Warsh writing style used in that region. Its rendering is deliberately simple: letters connect through basic joining forms, and the only ligatures are the required lam-alef pairs, with no large set of contextual alternates. The family has four static weights, Regular, Medium, SemiBold and Bold, and no italic. Each file holds 1,788 glyphs; the project notes describe near-complete coverage of the Arabic-script characters in Unicode. The Latin part, shown in the specimen, is an open, low-contrast humanist sans limited to the basic Latin subset. SIL International maintains the project; the notes name George W. Nuss as original designer and Becca Hirsbrunner as lead designer.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright (c) 2007-2008, The C&MA Guinea Fulbe Team; Copyright renewed 2011-2012, George W. Nuss (http://www.fulbefouta.com), with the Reserved Font Name "Fouta". Copyright (c) 2004-2025, SIL Global (https://www.sil.org), with Reserved Font Names 'Andika' and 'SIL'. Copyright (c) 2014-2025, SIL …

Allowed:
- Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps.
- Modify the fonts and build new versions from them.
- Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them.

Conditions:
- The fonts cannot be sold by themselves.
- A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission.
- The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission.

Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/

## Where it works

- **West African Ajami texts**: The Warsh-style shapes and wide Arabic-script character set are aimed at languages of the region that are written with Arabic letters.
- **Literacy and educational material**: Simplified joining with only the lam-alef ligatures presents each letter in a predictable form for learners.
- **Books and newsletters**: Four weights from Regular to Bold allow titles, subheads and body text within one Arabic family.
- **Bilingual pages**: The built-in Latin sans sets English or French words beside Arabic-script text at a matching weight.

## Things to know

- **Simplified shaping**: Apart from the required lam-alef ligatures, Harmattan does not include decorative ligatures or a broad range of contextual alternates.
- **Static weights, no italic**: The four weights are separate files. Harmattan is not a variable font.
- **Latin is basic**: Latin coverage is limited to the basic subset for Western European languages; the Latin Extended subset is not present.

## FAQs

### Is Harmattan free for commercial use?

Yes. Harmattan is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which allows personal and commercial use, modification and redistribution. The fonts cannot be sold on their own, and modified versions stay under the same license.

### Who designed Harmattan?

Harmattan is maintained by SIL International. The project notes credit George W. Nuss as the original designer and Becca Hirsbrunner as lead designer.

### How many weights does Harmattan have?

Harmattan has four weights: Regular 400, Medium 500, SemiBold 600 and Bold 700. There is no italic.

### What is the Warsh style in Harmattan?

The project notes present Warsh as the style of Arabic writing suited to West African languages that use Arabic script. Harmattan follows it so that readers there see familiar letter shapes.

### Which scripts does Harmattan support?

Harmattan covers Arabic script, including many extended letters, and basic Latin for languages such as English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

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Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/harmattan (trendhub)