Hind
About Hind
- Source
- Google Fonts ↗
- Classification
- sans-serif
- Weights
- 300, 400, 500, 600, 700
- Features
- Standard
Hind is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by the Indian Type Foundry, originally created for the Devanagari script and later expanded to Latin. Its open apertures and excellent legibility at small sizes make it an outstanding choice for body text and user interfaces.
History and Design
The Indian Type Foundry developed Hind as part of their mission to create high-quality typefaces for Indian languages. The Latin version maintains the same design philosophy—open letterforms, generous x-height, and careful attention to legibility at all sizes. The team optimized Hind for on-screen reading while ensuring it works beautifully in print.
Hind's design shows clear humanist influences, with organic curves and subtle stroke modulation that add warmth to its otherwise utilitarian character. This balance makes it suitable for both professional documents and friendly consumer applications.
Why Hind Excels
Hind's strength lies in its exceptional legibility at small sizes. The open counters and generous spacing prevent letters from collapsing into each other, even at 12px or smaller. This makes it particularly valuable for mobile interfaces, body text on screens, and any application where readability is paramount.
The Devanagari and Latin versions share consistent design principles, making Hind an excellent choice for multilingual applications serving Indian and Western audiences.
Technical Features
- 5 weights: Light through Bold for flexible hierarchy
- Devanagari support: Full coverage for Hindi and related languages
- Optimized hinting: Crisp rendering on Windows and older displays
- Compact design: Space-efficient while maintaining legibility
Best Use Cases
Hind excels in:
- Mobile applications: Outstanding legibility at small sizes
- Body text: Clear and readable for long-form content
- Healthcare and government: Trustworthy and accessible
- Multilingual projects: Consistent design across Latin and Devanagari
Usage Tips
Use weight 400 for body text and 600-700 for headings. Hind performs best at sizes from 14px to 18px for body text on screen. For print, it works well at 9-11pt. Pair Hind with a contrasting serif like Merriweather for visual hierarchy, or use within a clean, modern design system as the primary typeface.
Alternative For (1)
Hind is a free alternative to the following premium fonts:
Similar open apertures and excellent legibility at small sizes
How to Use Hind
Copy these code snippets to quickly add Hind to your project.
CSS Import
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Hind:wght@300;400;500;600;700&display=swap');HTML Link Tags
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Hind:wght@300;400;500;600;700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">Tailwind CSS
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
fontFamily: {
'hind': ['Hind', 'sans-serif'],
},
},
},
}
// Usage in HTML:
// <p class="font-hind">Your text here</p>React / Next.js
// Using next/font (Next.js 13+)
import { Hind } from 'next/font/google';
const hind = Hind({
subsets: ['latin'],
weight: ['300', '400', '500', '600', '700'],
});
export default function Component() {
return (
<p className={hind.className}>
Your text here
</p>
);
}
// Or using inline styles with Google Fonts link:
// <p style={{ fontFamily: "'Hind'" }}>Your text</p>