---
title: Harmattan - Design
fontversion: 4.000
---

The original font on which Harmattan was based was an [OFL](http://scripts.sil.org/ofl)-licensed typeface called **Fouta AS**, designed for one specific region in West Africa. However, significant design changes have been made as the font has been extended to handle a wider variety of languages using the Arabic script. Harmattan, named after the trade winds that blow during the dry season in West Africa, is designed in a Warsh style to suit the needs of languages using the Arabic script in West Africa. The Latin letters are a subset of the [Andika](http://software.sil.org/andika) font. 

Four fonts from this typeface family are included in the *Harmattan* release:

- Harmattan Regular
- Harmattan Medium
- Harmattan SemiBold
- Harmattan Bold

## Type Samples

Type samples showing some of the inventory of glyphs can be found here: 
[Harmattan Type Sample](sample.md).

Examples of some text is shown below. 

![Harmattan Sample - Four weights](assets/images/weights.png){.fullsize}
<!-- PRODUCT SITE IMAGE SRC https://software.sil.org/harmattan/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2023/04/weights.png -->
<figcaption>Harmattan Sample - Four weights</figcaption>

![Harmattan Sample - Genesis 11](assets/images/HarmattanArabicGen11.png){.fullsize}
<!-- PRODUCT SITE IMAGE SRC https://software.sil.org/harmattan/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2020/06/HarmattanArabicGen11.png -->
<figcaption>Harmattan Sample - Genesis 11</figcaption>

## Character Set

For a complete list of characters included in this font, see [Character Set Support](charset.md).

## Font Features

Alternate glyphs that are available through features are demonstrated in the [Features](features.md) document. 
