In 2016, a group of youngsters from Bigdates.ai, a Kochi-based startup, founded an application called Malayalam Text & Image Editor, an efficient tool to make meme-designing in Malayalam easier. Content creators and other users could log in to the application and design social media posts featuring their favourite actors and funny captions. “The app gained around 30 lakh installations back then,” says Brutus KC, creative director, Bigdates.ai.

Ten years later, much hasn’t changed in the typography industry dominated by a few international players. New Malayalam fonts are a rarity, and their inventory has remained nearly unchanged. As the team reached out to designers for their app to create new fonts, they were charged exorbitant amounts to generate them.

On August 17, on the first day of a new Malayalam calendar year, the Bigdates.ai team launched 103 new Malayalam fonts to combat this. “Our initial plan was to launch 10 to 15 styles. But once we realised we could do more, 15 became 50, and we ultimately hit 103. This is our gift to Malayalam,” says Brutus.

The font names resemble the appearance. Olam looks like text written underwater with its blurry edges; Nizhal resembles a shadow; Urukal replicates words melting, and in Chathurangam, the words mirror chess pieces. Font styles such as Fluffy, Fingerprint, Irumuri, Kanthi, Karuthal, Kayar, Kiranam, Mazha and Minnal take after their namesakes.

The team, consisting of 12 members: Akhil K Sekharan, Yatheendraraj PD, Bimal P, Sharon Babu, Anjali Stalin, Ericson KA, Sanal KS, Roshni MA, Liya Joby, Sandra Baiju, Christo Babu and Brutus, developed their own font-development software with the help of AI.

The fonts are currently accessible on the malayalameditor.com website in the FML (Font Malayalam Legacy) format. They can be downloaded and used in design software. Currently, their usage is limited to design purposes.

“We are relaunching our app, Malayalam Text & Image Editor, which will feature the fonts. We are also releasing a web version for it. Designers can use the app commercially to design posters and print them. There are a few design templates on the app,” says Brutus.

He also adds that the team is developing the fonts in Unicode format. This will allow the styles to be used beyond design capacities. They are creating an app suitable for IOS, as well.

“We are also planning on creating fonts for other south Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu and Kannada as well as for Hindi soon,” adds Brutus.