Design

a look into a very peculiar phenomenon that occurs when signboard painters paint signs in both devanagiri and latin scripts.

Outline

his project was about creating “Adhyapak” (The Teacher), a Latin typeface that uses the Devanagiri (Hindi) angle of calligraphy as its basic foundation. The typeface takes its inspiration from the streets of India in the form of elements such as flourishes, while laying emphasis on readability & legibility.
An interesting difference noted between Devanagiri (Hindi) & Latin (English) calligraphy
is that the angle at which one held the stylus was the opposite for both scripts.
Since the colonization of India, there has always been a requirement for signboard painters to create multi-lingual signs. Initially trained to write in Devanagiri, these signboard painters would need to shift the angle of their brush to write in English. More experienced painters subconsciously flipped their brush around while shifting between the two scripts. Amateur painters and people who execute quick jobs like vehicle number plates do not realize the importance of flipping the angle of their brush and produce peculiar results. They use the the Devanagiri angle to write both scripts. This is the subtle essence that the Indian street has left behind on hand painted Latin script.

Requirements

Projector

Speaker bio

After having graduated from the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in 2009, Nikhil has worked as a graphic designer at companies like INK talks and Bhavishyavani Future Soundz before starting his own design outfit - Junglegym Studio. His flyer and event artwork at Bhavishyavani has been featured in Kyoorious- one of India’s leading design magazines.

He is an aspiring typographer and an ardent typophile. Obsessed with detail and precision, Nikhil loves to spend his free time studying and designing fonts some of which have been featured on Behance. He currently has completed work on 3 of his very own fonts. Nikhil enjoys having a multi disciplinary approach to design, and hence has worked on projects ranging from mobile applications to identity design to print-making. His studio is based out of his stud farm on the outskirts of Pune with an advisory panel that consists of horses, cats, dogs, a pig and a lesser sulphur crested Australian cockatoo.

Links

• http://kingofcups-blog.tumblr.com/

Slides

https://www.behance.net/gallery/949638/Adhyapak