Ben Mitchell

I research and make fonts for Southeast Asian scripts! 🇪🇺 🏳️‍🌈 He/him

http://fontpad.co.uk

Public Key

npub16pvuul4gjr0v5yz783xz3cu76msc8tdyjwzhcpszx0s5r0rswu0qq4894q

NIP-05 Address

ohbendy@typo-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdqkww065fphk2zp0rcnpguw0ddcvr4kjf8ptuqcpr8c2ph3c8w8spz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qz8thwden5te0dehhxarj94c82c3wwajkcmr0wfjx2u3wdejhg4lut5k

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

nostr-pub.wellorder.net

yabu.me

Author Public Key

npub16pvuul4gjr0v5yz783xz3cu76msc8tdyjwzhcpszx0s5r0rswu0qq4894q

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Last Notes

2026-08-13 15:32:16 UTC

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@nprofile…w44f I thought U+271D ✝ was the one to use for deaths, leaving u+2020 † free to be a smaller size for footnotes, matching the asterisk.

2026-07-31 17:51:28 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk True. Just because I know the English alphabet doesn't mean I have the understanding to do a good job with e.g Vietnamese. And as we know, the Mon-Burmese script has a lot of divergences between orthographies/writing systems. But I feel that's at the next level of detail from tackling an entirely different script; if you don't have any knowledge of the script, designing it for any language will be impossible. And for SEAsian scripts, unfortunately almost all designers are not thinking of language differences; the main hurdle they (mistakenly) imagine is matching the letterforms of a script to an existing design in a different script.

2026-07-31 15:28:40 UTC

Periodic reminder for typeface designers: just because you have experience and knowledge in one script, does not mean your first, second or third attempts at a different script will be any good.
I don't want to put people off tackling new scripts but remember how well you know your native script, and engage with new scripts as deeply as possible until you have the same familiarity. Don't just look at 3–4 existing designs and get all your ideas from those (how will you know if they're any good?)
Knowledge of one script is not transferable to another.

2026-07-29 20:48:12 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk I will never believe those people after drawing Noto Sans Cham! Latin is easy after tackling such funny shapes :)

2026-06-20 09:48:51 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk I can't speak for Bangla, but it fascinates me that in many scripts we see this convergent evolution of letterforms that descend from different ancestors. Thai has ก ถ ภ or ล ส; Burmese has ဩ and သြ, or ဦ ဉီ, all etymologically unrelated. A subconscious drive for consistency and uniformity among scribes over the centuries? The mechanics of writing makes some shapes naturally evolve into shapes that are easier to write?

2026-06-18 18:22:53 UTC

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@nprofile…uvqd @nprofile…p7tp Gonna be fun testing this!
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/772/497/646/127/608/original/d72370b2dfe9c3dc.png

2026-05-29 07:56:42 UTC

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@nprofile…p7tp Nice work from Erik! Funny question but do you know what magnifying lens is in that photo? I'm working on a UI design and something like that might be the solution to my constant hunching to check tiny text on my MacBook.

2026-05-06 15:27:10 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk Thank you, that's helpful!

2026-05-06 10:19:12 UTC

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Thanks to everyone for comments! I've updated things and fixed the fonts and layout, and made it a bit clearer what the aim of the document is.
https://fontpad.co.uk/Documents/GenericCombiningMarksInThaiScript.pdf

2026-05-05 20:49:31 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk Thank you, updated, and now with references

2026-05-05 17:37:45 UTC

Here we go, first draft documenting the use of generic combining marks with Thai script, and proposing that Thai glottal stop letter we saw a while ago for Nyah Kur language:
https://fontpad.co.uk/Documents/GenericCombiningMarksInThaiScript.pdf

2026-03-22 15:37:17 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk That's pretty much on the edge of my perception, but I see the logic. I might prefer to keep the z on the baseline and overshoot thin verticals sligtly? The optical effect would be less in a heavy weight where the longer horizontal base of the vertical stems would be more comparable to the longer horizontal base of the z. Wondering how many type designers bother with this one!

2026-03-22 09:26:10 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk Ooh a floating z, I've never come across that, doesn't it look too high after an n or u?

2026-03-21 22:57:09 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk Thos is about BlueFuzz, isn’t it? I’ll try to dig out my notes from Miguel 15 years ago :)

2026-03-08 23:25:59 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk oh wow. This deserves to go on a t-shirt 😅

2025-12-04 16:55:52 UTC

A mistake in Apple's SF fonts? uni0281 is an inverted smallcap R in the IPA charts, in the IPA books I have, and in the Brill fonts, but I notice SF has a turned smallcap R (glyph name Rsmallturned)
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/662/340/813/279/412/original/bce0d4f4fa4f5165.png
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/662/342/864/092/719/original/e6740289ea0584e7.png

2025-08-04 21:16:34 UTC

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@nprofile…unvw Especially unfortunately, this is true of the Noto fonts, where still some of the older ones were developed by non-native designers without due diligence.

2025-06-27 22:00:39 UTC

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@nprofile…3qzt I must have missed a step in your thinking. Ink pens are not sharp like a stylus, so I don't understand how a pen nib might tear a palm leaf. And are there manuscript cultures that used a pen nib on a palm leaf? Speaking for SEAsia it would be stylus on palm leaves or pen on paper.

2025-06-27 16:27:01 UTC

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@nprofile…mjt5 Agreed. My theory would be altogether not about tearing the leaf but about better control of the stylus and about the collection of ink in the scratches...

2025-06-27 15:42:11 UTC

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@nprofile…mjt5 @nprofile…cu2p Ha interesting. I mean in my experience as an untrained novice probably doing things all wrong, making any kind of smooth, even strokes was difficult. It was just a very scratchy and unforgiving substrate so I could see how bith opposite stories could be true to different people.

2025-06-27 14:53:24 UTC

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@nprofile…cu2p I’ve tried scratching shapes into palm leaves with a stylus a couple of times; the leaves were really rather tough and difficult to rip, though there may be different kinds of leaves used in different areas, or different treatments to the surface.

2025-06-27 14:41:29 UTC

So there's this often repeated claim that the South Indian and Southeast Asian scripts adopted rounded letterforms because of their heritage in palm leaf manuscripts and that straight strokes would rip the leaves. But in the spirit of critical thinking, has anyone traced where this idea came from, or is there any evidence for this claim? I'd like to propose a slightly different theory

2025-06-08 09:00:34 UTC

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@nprofile…2qv9 Those old Mac fonts are basically what got me into this. Venice 14 😍
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/646/914/077/513/151/original/d4469fb5b80adb43.jpg

2025-05-01 12:35:51 UTC

Anyone know why a DIST feature for Myanmar isn't being applied in MS Word on MacOS? Our feature uses GSUB not GPOS, could that be causing an issue?
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/432/602/341/584/727/original/60331f4873bc2daa.png

2025-04-07 10:24:24 UTC

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@nprofile…mjt5 Oh how fantastic. Did you register? It seems researchers have to be affiliated with an institution?

2025-04-06 20:19:33 UTC

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@nprofile…mjt5 That’s a nice analogy. I had run into the issue of outsiderness some months ago and hadn’t considered this angle. Now I’m thinking twice about whether to publish language proofing tools for minority languages of Burma for other outsiders and/or insiders to use. Maybe it depends on the kind of texts? Text from a public website vs traditional manuscripts are different kinds of artefacts.

2024-12-30 18:39:08 UTC

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@nprofile…mjt5 And thanks to you, we are doing the same in our WIP fonts :)
Still need to figure out how to make the GPOS variable for the compressed widths, though I suspect it's unlikely anyone would really want compressed fractions.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/743/223/879/985/920/original/9dc03557c1f09aea.jpg

2024-12-25 14:39:39 UTC

Opened up some old Mac fonts in ResEdit and wonder who these guys are hiding in the late ASCII slots.
#PixelFont #BitmapFont #MacOS8
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/713/963/331/258/695/original/8863b62d3f239a6a.jpg
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/713/963/703/923/787/original/f81ef024d7a7aa6f.jpg