Noto Sans Thaana font no longer following Faruma style (?)

[davelab6]

A user wrote in:

I am writing to address a significant issue regarding the recent update to the Dhivehi Noto Sans Thaana font. Unfortunately, the current version of the font does not meet the established standards for professional documents and deviates from the proper representation of the Dhivehi language.

The updated font styles are highly unconventional and do not align with the traditional and official use of Dhivehi script. This is a departure from previous versions of Dhivehi Noto Thaana Sans, which were more aligned with the official standards and the government’s preferred font for formal communication.

In particular, the official font used in government documents and standard letters is Faruma. The current iteration of Dhivehi Noto Sans does not replicate this standard, which is critical for maintaining consistency and professionalism in our documents.

Given that we rely on Google Docs for writing in Thaana and this is the only available font for us, the recent changes render the font practically unusable for our needs. Therefore, I kindly urge you to revert to the previous version of the Dhivehi Noto Sans Thaana font or to make the necessary adjustments to better align it with the Faruma font and official standards.

[davelab6]

Sadly this contradicts https://github.com/notofonts/thaana/issues/1 and https://medium.com/kodefly/is-noto-sans-thaana-relevant-29a8307fb6cb

We have no way to contact the user, so hoping they find this issue. If we have no more info, I suggest closing as "WAI" in 6 months.

[davelab6]

I wonder if @pathumego @inerds @aliharis have any insights :)

[inerds]

Hey @davelab6,

I haven’t been following the updates recently, but I was surprised to find that the font style has completely changed to have very sharp edges. I believe this is what the user is referring to. Almost all Thaana fonts traditionally have very rounded corners, so sharp edges like those in the current Noto Sans Thaana are quite rare.

[davelab6]

Okay :) To recap, here's v2:

In https://github.com/notofonts/thaana/issues/1#issuecomment-1641793380 you said

i wouldn't consider current style [v2] as acceptable. Styling is definitely not as par the Noto standards.

Personally I am an advocate for post-modern global culture, and I don't see any issue with making 'sharp edge' designs that are not traditional. The 'loopless' style of Thai might be similar, in a way. I'm happy for the world to have both.

So, perhaps v3 should be remain released as Noto Sans Thaana, and v2 should be re-released as Noto Serif Thaana, rather than abandoned completely.

What about v2's styling "is definitely not as par the Noto standards"?

[inerds]

In V2, the styling wasn’t quite up to the standard when compared to other Noto fonts or even other Thaana fonts that are available. Unfortunately, the newly introduced styling in V3 feels more like a rough, handwritten font, which might not align with the expectations for a polished typeface.

That said, I’m not opposed to the idea of having both sans and serif versions of Noto Thaana. These could certainly add value, provided that the styling is refined to meet the quality of other Noto scripts.

To help with this, I’d like to share some resources that might inspire further development:

• thaana.com – A great source of modern Thaana typography, featuring primarily display fonts.
• hassanhameed.com/thaana-fonts – author of several popular Thaana fonts, most of which are in a formal style and available for free.
• akurutype.com – A marketplace for various typefaces.
• theloopcraft.com/raajjetype – A commercial type foundry.

I’m also here to clarify any questions type designers might have.

[davelab6]

Thank you so much @inerds - I really value your expertise here. I'm still not sure what wasn't slightly below expectations, could you give just 1 visual comparison example and explanation? I'll try to secure 2025 budget to work on this fully.

[inerds]

@davelab6 To clarify things better and ensure we’re on the same page, would it be possible to schedule a quick call? I think it would help me explain what I’m seeing and provide more context