Many businesses in Rajasthan and across the Hindi belt need their name in Devanagari as well as in English: on the board, the shop front, packaging, a pamphlet and a post. The common mistake is to design the English logo first and then paste a Hindi version beside it, in whichever font was nearest. The two then look like they come from different shops.
Start with how the script works
Devanagari hangs its letters from a horizontal line, called the shirorekha. Letters join into words along that line, and marks above and below it, such as the vowel signs, need room. That has three effects on a logo. A line of Devanagari needs more height than the same size of Latin type. Tight line spacing makes the marks collide. And a heavy weight can fill the small gaps inside letters, so fine marks disappear at small sizes.
Choose a typeface made for the script
- Pick a family that was drawn for Devanagari and has several weights, and not a Latin font with Hindi letters added by a different hand.
- Check the licence before you fall for a font. A font that is free to view is not always free to use on a board, a product or a logo. Ask for the licence in writing.
- Test the real words, not sample text. Conjunct letters, where two or more consonants join, are where weak fonts break.
- Type the full name and the tagline and look at each joined letter at a large size and at a small one.
Pairing Hindi with English
| Question | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | Do both look equally strong? | A thin Hindi line beside a bold English one looks like an afterthought. |
| Size | Do the x-height and the line height feel balanced? | Devanagari at the same point size often looks smaller than Latin, so it may need a small increase. |
| Order | Which language reads first? | Decide by your customers. Do not leave it to chance. |
| Alignment | Do the lines share a baseline or a top line? | A shared line makes a lockup feel planned. |
| Colour | Is it the same in both? | Two colours for two languages reads as two brands. |
A lockup is the fixed arrangement of the mark and the name. Make one for each language pair, with the spacing written down, and keep them in your logo suite. Then a printer or a painter can reproduce both without guessing.
Check the spelling and the sense
Spelling in Hindi is less forgiving on a board than in a message. A missing vowel sign or a wrong conjunct is read by every passer-by. Have a fluent reader check the text, and have a second person check it again after the artwork is made, because a layout step can change a letter. If the Hindi name is a transliteration of an English one, agree on one spelling and use it everywhere.
Test at the size it will be seen
A logo that looks fine on a screen may fail on a board seen from the road. Print it at the actual size, put it on a wall and walk back. Our signboard letter height tool shows how big the letters should be for the distance people will read it from, and our notes on signboard design in Jaipur cover materials and lighting.
Mistakes that make a good name look cheap
- Stretching a font sideways to fit a space. It breaks the shapes of the letters.
- Outlines and heavy shadows on Devanagari, which fill the gaps in the letters.
- Mixing three fonts in one name.
- Using a decorative font for a long line. Keep decoration for a single word, and set the rest in a plain face.
- Leaving the Hindi to the sign painter and the English to a designer, so the two never meet.
If the two scripts are part of your identity, write the rules in your brand guidelines: which fonts, which sizes, which pairs. That is what keeps the signboard, the packaging and the website looking like the same business. If you want a studio to design both together, see our branding work.
