PROJECT SUMMARY:
This project is an expressive Devanagari typeface based on a pessimist’s personality and the way he thinks. A pessimist concentrates on only the absence of things in life. His perspectives are entirely made of 'negative'. And hence, so is the typeface- it is made of just the negative space which surrounds the letter. A pessimist's mind is full of blocks. Therefore, the letters too have a block-like form. The project also consisted of applications of this typeface in graphic design.
THE TYPEFACE:
The basic guidelines to construct legible Devanagari letters were studied and were used to measure basic proportions while creating the typeface. However, legibility
wasn't a mandatory purpose in this typeface. Expression of the idea of pessimism visually was the primary aim. The final adapted grid was hence one with modified proportions of
the X-Height, Ascender and Descender lines.
Pessimists are very confusing personalities to figure. One doesn't understand their perspectives and opinions on things unless they spend some time with them. The idea was to incorporate that aspect in the typeface. The typeface seemed too simple and legible despite treating negative space as the main alphabet. In the process of creating the letters, complexity was added to the positive structure of letters. The letter sets were only chosen based on the result after filling up negative spaces.
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The final set of alphabets consisted of vowels, consonants, numbers, basic punctuation marks, half letters (maatras) which are using in combination with another letter to denote different vowel sounds, and conjunct letters (jodaksharas). A conjunct letter is the resultant letter when two or more letters are combined as one. The binding horizontal stroke at the top (shirorekha) of each letter was omitted as it gave away the Devanagari identity.
APPLICATIONS IN GRAPHIC DESIGN:
'The Diary Of a Fragile Mess'- the personal diary of a pessimist was the first application of the typeface in publishing design. Made of fragile, transparent and glass pages, the diary only showed a messy black mass when it was shut. The viewer could only make sense out of each page if the pages are carefully handled, layer by layer, as it goes with a pessimist's personality. The glass pages added weight to the diary, making it hard to handle and pricky like a pessimist.
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The typeface was commercially applied to create visual grammar of posters, tickets, and promotional accessories of iconic plays in Indian theatre related to mysterious themes.
Album art for Indian music albums was an unexplored area with respect to typography. Thus, art for films revolving around negative and complex themes was also created using this typeface.
The typeface worked well as a supporting element as well as a title/ headline typeface.
RESPONSE:
Despite being a typeface which focused on complex expression instead of legibility first, The Pessimist Type received a lot of appreciation from viewers and juries across the globe.
Due to the demonstrated use of the typeface in graphic design, it was coded as an Open Type- Bitmap font and is now being developed in the True Type format for users to download.
Invited as a speaker at Typoday- an International Conference on
Typography and Design 2018 (with participants from across 100
countries) where a written paper on the project was presented,
patented and published in the International Typoday Journal.
Follow the link below to read the paper:
http://www.typoday.in/2018/spk_papers/sayali-milind-phadke-typoday-2018.pdf
Exhibited and awarded the Bronze Award for The Best Typography and the Silver Award for The Best Art Direction at the prestigious CAG (Communication Arts Guild, India) Exhibition.
Selected and exhibited at Ikattha Spaces, Mumbai .