Skeleton

The geometric construction has enhanced the look of the base letterforms. They now look serene. And proportions are maintained.

Another interesting thing (once again the thought borrowed from Dr Bhagvat’s process of categorization) is that every letterform will have a specific unit based on the width.

Take a look at the construction of skeleton of the base letterforms. These are intial sketches.

There are many reasons why skeleton should be build upon first.

Skeleton of the letteform will have a structure that helps gain legibility even before the weights are stuffed into the structure. Once the skeleton is perfect, it is just a matter of choice to place different weights around the defined structure.

With this exercise, I have learnt these things:

1. Place letterforms under specific width. Categorize letterforms based on the width  too. And if needed, create one’s own unit for width. I have used Graphical unit. One graphical unit being 1 cm. Most letterforms are place inside 4 graphical unit.
2. The logic behind curves in all letterforms can be repeated to control too many variations. So the circles that help construct one base letterform may help construct another letterform without increasing the radius of any of the circles.
3. If the solution to the problem is right, then it has to be beautiful too. Just solving a problem, in type design, is no more a challenge.
4. Before constructing letteforms, clarity can be achieved by creating thumbnails of the trial constructions. Then based on the analysis of thumbnails, final constructions can be carried out. This will save a lot of time and iterations.
5. Why geometry? Because symmetry comes into play. And symmetry definitely works on the screen. And I am sure I will have tough time dealing with these forms on the screen grid.
6. Using graph sheets as medium to plan the construction is recommended. I am using a basic Camlin compass to create circles of specific radius, a blue leaded pencil to mark the centerpoints of the circles and to draw diagonals that help decide the form of most letters, and a charcoal pencil to extract the form out of the construction.

Metaphor

 

Another challenge was to take all the base forms and see if I would be able to relate something with each one of them.

Now, how would this help me design a type? Maybe it doesn’t help me. But that was my way of looking at aesthetics. I mean if the form has to look really beautiful, beyond good proportions and legibility, it has to be related to the aesthetic form in our mind.

Although I struggled a lot to figure out the metaphors with some help from Asutosh and Armeen since they don’t know the language or can relate to the script.

For me this exercise was tough, for these reasons:

1. Whenever I used to think of a letter, I used to think of the image that is usually associated with the sound. For instance, in Engish, When I say ‘A’ you will think of apple. Now that is based on the sound. But can we think of an image with the form?
2. I am exposed to script too much. And that is in a way, sometimes works against. You are so familiar to forms you treat them as text and you try to change the structure accordingly. But there needs to be an objective base to build a letter set and not intution.
3. Asutosh provided this insight: “Why don’t you try gerometric forms? I mean, use circles and squares. Maybe you will be able to look at proportions mathematically, rather than going by a few hand written examples.” Suddenly everything fell in place. I knew what direction I should take.
4. Dr Bhagvat suggests that categorization of the letterforms can also be done according to: (i) The size (ii) Simplicity (iii) Motion/stroke/angles (iv) Endings/flourishes (v) Anatomy
5. Dr Bhagvat has also studied characteristics of Devanagari. And his analysis is comprehensive, although debatable. But I also need to study the characteristics of the Kannada letterforms. It will help me when I start constructing the letterforms.

At this moment, the stuggle is to understand proportions. Not much standardization has been brought about in the Kannada script.

Categorization: Form

 

Two semesters back, Letter Design course was making sense to me, since I was interested in type design. But now it really makes a lot of sense. Hehe.

Tarun had given us a few handouts. One such handout was ‘Analysis of the Devanagari script’. Back then I had read it. Now when I went thought the article, some very important points in the handout has given a direction for my project.

The handout especially talks about categorization of Marathi script by Dr Bhagvat. The study is interesting. The categorization he has done is phenomenal considering there is very less information available on the graphic anlysis of Devanagari script.

Now for my benefit I am fine-tuning Dr Bhagvat’s process of categorization. For now I will start in his footsteps, but I will change the process according to the peculiarities of the Kannada script.

As thought earlier, I am going ahead with categorization of Kannada lettes based on form. This exercise will make my life much easier when I have to design the letter set.

Please refer to the image right at the beginning of the post. I have decided to categorize the Kannada letters into three categories — Base (Parent forms), Derivatives (Derived from parent forms), and Independent (Unique forms).

Project Proposal 1.0

Chukki: Download Project Proposal

Please do let me know your thoughts on the proposal. Chukki is a classroom project. Any suggestions at this time will be of great value.

Quotes

“Function is fixed, the alphabet invented and the basic forms of the letters are unalterable.”
- Stanley Hess, Author, The modifications of letterforms

“The Infinity and complexity of the reading public today . . . makes our alphabet rigid and unalterable. Now any change or modifications needs to be subtle as to be almost invisible.”
- Stanley Morrison, Type Designer

“Good lettering . . . is not self expression but complete self negation in the service of a correctly understood task.”
- Jon  Tschichold, Type Designer

This one is my favorite . . .
“Letters are things, not pictures of things.”
- Eric Gill, Type Designer

Religion

Religion probably played the most important role in determining the structure and construction of Indian scripts.

Earlier, in the Indian culture, writing was considered as inferior to speech. And it was important to record the Vedas too. And with speech, perhaps, the content of Vedas were getting diluted.

Since Vedas had to be pronounced correctly, Brahmi, the phonetic script was born. If you see, the Arabic and Graeko-Roman forms are derived from pictograms or ideograms. The Indian letterforms are schematic designs based on the classification of the vedic sounds.

Later, the archaic, cursive forms of Maheshwari Brahmi evolved into the angular forms of Ashokan letters and further into Bharati, Devalipi (Nagari) and Devanagari.

Blog?

A blog is essential when a student is working on such an extensive project. This helps record thoghts as and when they pop in the mind, which may lead the student to take effective decisions.

It also, in a way, makes sure that documentation of the process is done during the project period. Documenting the project after the project is may be just another ritual. Regular updating of a blog helps track the project too.

It also gives the guide an opportunity to share his/her thoughts. This way the student-guide interaction is recorded forever on the web. People doing such kind of work around the world may benifit from the thoughts/resources shared in this blog.

This is not a new concept. Many design students maintain a blog when they are working on a project. I just thought it would be useful.

And if anybody asks you about your project or something, direct them to your blog. I am also thinking of the making a small-sized publication at the end, if time permits, by editing the content of this blog and using it.

I look forward to your comments on the project.

Challenges

1.    The Kannada script is curvy and right decisions have to be taken when the forms are derived on the pixel grid
2.    Every akshara (letter) in the Kannada script can be categorized according to their basic forms irrespective of the fact whether it is a vowel or a consonant. (Thanks to Suresh, who had provided this important insight when Asutosh, my senior, had presented an Oriya typeface in his jury.)
3.    Compatibility is also a major issue. How would the Kannada typeface look on a browser loaded in a 160 x 160 pixel PDA, a 320 x 240 pixel PocketPC or maybe a Web-enabled microwave oven?
4.    It is important not to waste too much time on research because there are enough projects done on south-indian scripts. So the project should build upon those projects rather than starting from scratch. This way the effective output will be one level up.
5.    Although, familiarity of the Kannada script helps, it is essential to base all designs on the right proportion of every akshara and negate self by executing the understood task. To achieve that, thorough understanding of letterforms is necessary.

Rendering

When a Kannada typeface is imposed on the grid, the lines that fall on the horizontal, vertical, or at 45 degree angle, don’t cause any problem. But the lines that fall at any other angle are approximated. Rendering of the Kannada typeface on the screen is a debatable issue.

There are two ways to tackle rendering issues:

1. At the expense of compromising on the proportion of the character, we can align the strokes with the grid. Since the script that is in question is Kannada, this seems like a non-viable option.

2. The other solution is to work on the tonal illusion. By putting lighter tones of pixels around the strokes that fall inbetween two pixels, we can achieve smooth rendering. The typefaces that are designed using this rendering technique are called super-pixel type.