Although relatively new for Tibetan society, type design has rapidly grown into a vibrant industry. Today, more than 300 Tibetan typefaces exist, with dozens of new fonts being designed and released annually—many by young Tibetan designers. This presentation provides an overview of the current status of Tibetan type design. It draws on the speaker’s expertise in collecting, classifying, reviewing, and documenting Tibetan Unicode fonts. Initially focused on cataloguing digital fonts to raise awareness of their existence and function, his work has since expanded into paleographic research, tracing the deep historical and cultural roots of Tibetan writing. The talk highlights the unique challenges and opportunities of digitizing Tibetan scripts, given their rich calligraphic heritage and diversity of styles. While many fonts remain rooted in traditional script forms, new Western-influenced sans serifs and variable fonts are emerging. At present, there are four Uchan-style variable fonts and only one Umed variable font (Khawa Sans Ume). The design process of the latter was recently presented at the 2025 ATypI conference, underscoring the growing momentum of Tibetan type design.
The Status of Tibetan Type Design
