DEGREE PROJECT Zamorins Self-Sponsored PROGRAMME: Bachelor of Design (B.Des) STUDENT: Athul K V Guide: Ravi Parmar 2021 Communication Design A display typeface based on Vernacular Architecture of Kerala Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 1

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This Evaluation Jury recommends Athul K V for the Bachelor of Design Degree of the National Institute of Design, Haryana in Communication Design Herewith, for the project titled “Zamorins Display : A typeface based on the Vernacular Architecture of Kerala ” On fulfilling the further requirements by* Jury grade: *subsequent marks regarding fulfilling the requirements: The project has been completed in ____________________ weeks. Activity Chairperson, Education/Director _____________________________ Jury Chair Members: Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 3

Originality statement I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no full or substantial copy or previously published material, or it does not even contain substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or final graduation of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgment is made in this graduation project. Moreover I also declare that none of the concepts are borrowed or copied without due acknowledgment. I further declare that the intellectual content of this graduation project is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. This graduation project (or part of it) was not and will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course. Student name in full : Athul K V Signature : Date : 4 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

copyright statement Student name in full : Athul K V Signature : Date : I hereby grant the National Institute of Design, Haryana the right to archive and to make available my graduation project/thesis/ dissertation in whole or part in the Institute’s Library in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, subject to the provision of the Copyright Act. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my document or I have obtained permission to use copyright material. Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 5

Privacy statement Copyright ©2021 Student document publication meant for private circulation only. All right reserved. Bachelor of Design, Industrial Design, 2017 National Institute of Design, Haryana, India. No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, xerography, photography, and videography recording without written permission from the publisher, Athul K V and National Institute of Design, Haryana All Illustrations and photographs in this document are Copyright ©2021-2022 by respective people/ organisations. Athul K V UG Communication Design Graduation Project 2021 Email: [email protected] 6 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

Acknowledgement The document is a consolidation of my learnings of the four years of education I have received at the National Institute of Design. I am overwhelmed in all humbleness and gratefulness to acknowledge my depth to all those who have helped me to put these ideas, well above the level of simplicity and into something concrete. I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Mr. Abhijith K R for helping me through the project through tough times. My family have been the best support system I could have throughout the project and I will forever be grateful to them for helping me and pushing me to keep going even when I had to go through some of the toughest times of my life. I would like to thank all my friends, especially Payal and Ashfaque for pushing me and making me believe in myself, and all my batchmates who have helped me through project. Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 7

About nid, haryana National Institute of Design, Haryana, was established on November 15, 2016 as an autonomous institute under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, to emerge as a global leader in Design Education and Research. The institute aims at becoming the torchbearer for innovative design directions in the industry, commerce and development sectors. NID Haryana’s multi disciplinary environment consisting of diverse design domains helps in creating an innovative and holistic ecosystem for design learning and delivering solutions focusing on the emerging needs of people integrated with digital and cutting edge technologies. NID Haryana currently offers full-time four year Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) with specialization streams of industrial design, communication design and Textile & apparel design. The Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) commences with a two semester rigorous Foundation Program followed by six semesters of specialized courses. Teaching methodology incorporates Industry and Field exposure. 8 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

2017-18 Batch Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 9

About Communication design Communication Design mediates messages to meanings and stories to experiences. NID Haryana offers this discipline in a way that enables the students to explore the sub-domains of communication design by means of analog to new media. The modules are designed in a way where students have the freedom to choose their own project ranging from Film, Animation, Graphic Design, Interface Design and Interaction Design with basic modules that are common to all. Students are exposed to emerging global trends, cultural and historical context in which the designers need to function as well as of the social and ethical factors that influence design decisions. Ability to practice within a local and global context is a guiding principle of this program across the pathways. 10 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

Preface As a part of the NID curriculum, final year students are expected to do a 4 to 6 month graduation project which is a full scale design project in the industry. It could be in the form of an internship or sponsored project. The graduate project is a complete demonstration of independent client service by the student and is expected to generate a professional design assignment with application and implementation capabilities. This exposes the student to a real life situation of working in the industry and helps them understand constraints and limitations of an organization. It involves understanding of the strengths and infrastructure of the organization. Analyzing the problem statement specific to the situation and respond with an appropriate solution given the constraints and time limit. It also helps understand the role to play as a designer in a multidisciplinary team which involves pitching ideas to a non-designer and convincing them of its merits. Hence the degree projects helps a students understand his strengths and weaknesses before entering into the professional world of design. I completed my degree project in a time frame of 6 months from July to December 2021 as a selfsponsored project. I worked to make it my best project yet and overtook all the important parts of the project myself over this period. I was able to work on the project while overcoming difficulties and planning appropriately when the times were difficult and the work was extremely sluggish due to circumstances. Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 11

Contents Form Study 37 Abstract 15 Introduction 14 Research 17 Kerala 19 31 21 33 20 32 Vernacular architecture of Kerala 25 Topography Classification History of Culture Materials Building Envelope 72 58 64 77 80 76 70 Development Character Derivation Understanding Rhythm and Density Finalising Character Comparing Character and Density Understanding Negative Space Final Character Iterations Ideation 57 Understanding Letters 51 54 52 Organising Lowercase Letters Type Terminologies 12 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

Design and Development References 101 119 94 116 108 121 112 132 140 142 148 150 151 88 87 114 106 120 98 118 Pages from sketchbook 1 Basic Character set Lowercase Rhythm Testing Character set Uppercase waterfall Lowercase Character set Kerning and Spacing Comparing Iterations Lowercase Waterfall Pages from sketchbook 2 Texture of typeface Basic Character set Uppercase Final Typeface Font in use Conclusion and Scope Citation Bibliography Uppercase Character set Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 13

Introduction India is the most diverse country in the world, where each state has its own culture language and traditions. There are about 121 languages and 270 mother tongues. Yet being a country which is so diverse and having so much richness around each culture, some of these have already began to vanish. In the run towards adopting the western culture we are forgetting to embrace the richness and quality in our own culture. It is very impotant to preseve ones culture in any form as it tells the history and the roots of how humans have evolved and changed over time. 14 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

We live in a society thats running behind modernism and western culture and are forgetting to appreciate and see the richness and quality present in our culture that has been around us for a long time. Culture plays a very important role in the his - tory of humanity. It is a proof of how humans were different and the answer to several what’s, why’s, and how’s in human history lies in the culture of any place. Abstract As long as humans read and write, typefaces will remain and letterforms has the potential to carry the essence of any culture within it. When we say designing type based on an architectural style, its just that, the richness and quality of the architecture is changing its form from one to another. The cutural essence and character present in the architecture resonates and will be carried by the letterforms and become timeless. Latin being one of the most widely used letter - forms, its more effective in reaching out to wider audience, giving them an essence of one’s culture. The objective of the poject is to create a latin diaplay typeface based on the Vernacular Archi - tecture of Kerala for print and digital medium. Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 15

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Research Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 17

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KERALA Kerala, a state of Indian Union situated along the southwest coastline of the country,Kerala state was formed in post independent India in 1957. Today it is one of the most densely populated states, getting rapidly urbanized, though with less industrialization compared to other states. Malayalam is the language of the state, Kerala has the highest literacy and lowest birth rate. The climate of Kerala is warm-humid with a heavy monsoon that has two spells, the southwest monsoon from mid May to August, followed by the northeast monsoon during OctoberNovember. With the monsoons as the major climatic determinant, temperature varies from 22ºC to 33ºC and high humidity. Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 19

TOPOGRAPHY Lying between the Arabian sea on the west and western Ghats on the East and this makes Kerala lie on the monsoon belt. Being in the tropical climate, Kerala experiences a warm and a humid climate. The mean monthly relative humidity varies between 85 percent and 95 percent from June through September; it is about 70 percent in January. The southwest monsoons bring rainfall in June through September and the northeast monsoons in October through November. fig_1_image source- google maps 20 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

History of the culture Because the Western Ghatz isolated Kerala from the rest of the subcontinent, the infusion of Aryan culture into Kerala was very recent. It came only after Kerala had already developed Cherman Juma Masjid, Kodungallur The oldest mosque in the Indian subcontinent which is still in use. It was built by Malik Deenar, Persian tābiʿūn of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, on the orders of the successor of Cheraman Perumal, the Chera King of modern-day Kerala an independent culture, which can be as early as 1000 B.C. (Logan 1887). The Aryan immigration is believed to have started towards the end of the first millenium. Christianity reached Kerala around 52 A.D. through the apostle Thomas. The Jews in Kerala were once an affluent trading community on the Malabar. The first mosque in India was built in Kerala when a Travancore king converted to Islam around the 8th century, coinciding with the dawn of Islam/ Mohammedanism in the Middle East. fig_2_image source- madras courier Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 21

The coming of European traders not only introduced new vocabulary to the existing traditions, but it also promoted relations with Southeast Asia. Therefore, it is seemingly obvious that subtle eclecticism had been the nature of Kerala artistic value, in which all kinds of influences, including Brahmanism, contributed to the cultural diffusion and architectural tradition. More homogeneous artistic development may have rigorously occurred around the 8th century as a result of large-scale colonization by the Vedic Brahmin’s, which caused the decline of Jainism and Buddhism (Menon, 1978; in Singh 2002). Historically, Kerala was a participant in the dynamic trading web of the Mediterranean, South Asia, Southeast Asia and China since the 13th century or even earlier, hence its towns such as Calicut, Cochin, Quilon, Beypore and Crangganore are known to be important old international seaboards. Most of the writings on the cultural formation of Kerala, which mostly referred to Indian, British and French sources (Logan, 1887; Menon, 1911; Singh, 2003), tended to relate Kerala’s historical narratives and foreign influences only with western cultures, such as Persian, Roman, Greek, Jewish, Arabic and other Mediterranean and West Indian civilizations. William Logan (1887), in the Malabar Manual reported contacts only with the Chinese around 145 A.D., but did not further explain how the contact with countries in between were initiated. Admiral Zheng from the Ming dynasty was reported boarding from China to Sri Lanka and Calicut, as well as to Indonesia, Malaka and Assam around 1555 for trade. Chinese influences in domestic life are also obvious in some names of domestic utensils, such as cheena chatti (cooking utensils made of cast iron), cheena bharani (big jar made of china clay, introduced by Chinese), all suggesting the occurrence of cultural exchange between Kerala and China. 22 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

fig_4_An illustration of ancient-day Calicut port fig_3_Ancient trade routes and Kerala image source- www.tyndisheritage.com image source- zamorins.co.uk Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 23

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Vernacular Architecture of Kerala Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 25

In Kerala, even today several built forms of traditional construction and detailing are well preserved and in use both by families and society in general. The indigenous architecture of Kerala has variety of residential types, religious and cultural institutional buildings. All traditional built forms are made with timber as a dominant material along with laterite stone. They are between 100 to 400 years old, depicting an enriched grammar of design and construction, embellished with craft and art skills. The traditional arts, crafts and architecture in Kerala represent a homogeneous sociocultural arrangement of which buildings were a product. From the northern Malabar region to the southern Thiruvithaamkoor area of Kerala, there is an unusual homogeneity and continuity in the traditional architecture with sophisticated articulation in construction methods and techniques, use of materials, roofing system and craftsmanship. fig_5,6_ Details on wood 26 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

Architecture over the ages has been an expression of social values, this has been reflected in the domestic architecture of Kerala. Although ever - changing, a distinct regional character has evolved in Kerala, the architecture is decided by the local materials, climate, aesthetic values, geographical and historical factors. Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 27

Endowed with ancient socio-cultural institutions, Kerala’s traditional architecture comprises temples, palaces and dwellings built in a unique system of wooden construction that are about 200 to 600 years old. Its homogeneity and continuity is unusual within the country and has Sri Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur - A classical example of the architectural style of Kerala been nurtured by the regional arts and crafts. The local materials, crafts men’s ingenuity and techniques as well as ancient literature on architecture have made this genre a sustainable human endeavor. fig_7 28 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

Mishikal Mosque, Calicut, one of the few surviving medieval mosques in Kerala built on the Kerala Architecture style The basic principles of architecture remained faithful to Hindu scriptures, but the multireligious social environment of Kerala added richness to the typological essence. The Hindu, Christian and the Muslim communities with their corresponding influences made contributions to this genre of building art with examples that ranged from the pragmatic to the highly expressive. Residential and religious architectures have emerged under two distinct genre. This built environment also pauses a challenge of heritage conservation where tradition is at variance with social and architectural modernity. fig_8 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 29

Venad rulers in the south, Kochi Maharajas in the center, Zamorins of Kozhikode in the north and Kolathiri Rajas in the extreme north. They were rulers who patronized architectural activities. fig_9 Padmanabhapuram Palace, Constructed by Venad rulers of Travancore image source- keralatourism.travel 30 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

Religious Architecture, primarily patronized by temples of Kerala as well as several old churches, mosques etc. VAASTU SHASTRA is an ancient science which helps to get the natural benefits freely offered by the five basic elements of the universe. These basic elements are Akash (SKY), Prithvi (EARTH), Paani (WATER), Agni (FIRE), and Vayu (WIND). Vastu Shastra can be applied by keeping in harmony with these basic five elements of nature..Vastu refers to ‘abode’ or mansion and Shastra or Vidya means science or knowledge. Vastu Vidya is the sacred holistic science pertaining to designing and building of houses. The principles of vastu have been derived from Sthapathya Veda- one of the ancient sacred books in Hinduism. Domestic Architecture, primarily seen in most of the residential houses. There are distinctively styles in this area, as Palaces and large mansions of feudal lords different from houses of commoners and also marked difference exists between religious communities. The traditional architecture of Kerala is built according to the Vastu shastra, the domestic architecture can be divided as follows — The wretched humble house, unknown by any building treatise of Kerala, belongs to ordinary folks and tribal people/ adivasis (cheri, chala, kudi, variyam or pisharam or pumatham); — The Ekasala, an I-shaped single rectangular hall house, belongs to farmers or middle-class non-farmers; — The Nalukettu, a courtyard house, belongs to landlords; —The great mansion Ettuketu and Patinjarukettu (double ettukettu) or much bigger structures, belong to very rich landlords — Commoner houses are simple ordinary houses scattered abundantly in the cities and villages. Kerala architecture can be broadly divided into two distinctive areas based on their functionality, each guided by different set of principles: Classification Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 31

Materials The materials used for construction vary across the different regions of Kerala. But the major materials used are-laterite stone, granite stone for foundations, wood, clay roof tiles and bamboo. In some cases lime mortar strengthened with vegetable juices is used for plastering .Mud mortar is used as a binding element and mud is used for making wall, clay tiles etc The roughness of granite stone reduces reflectivity. These Materials as per GRIHA code criteria comes under low environmental impact materials. fig_10- Unfinished granite stone flooring, fig_11- Exposed Laterite stone masonry 32 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

fig_12- Exposed Laterite stone masonry fig_13- Exposed Laterite stone masonry Building envelope Wall: Exposed laterite bricks having a rough surface are used for external walls as these have self-shading properties, and thus reducing the radiation falling on them. The thermal mass of external wall is increased by using double layer of laterite masonry with a cavity in between that is filled with sand, this helps in insulating the interiors. This will help in reducing the cooling loads. Facades are painted with white or light colors to minimize the heat absorption. Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 33

Roof: High pitched roofs and large roof overhangs are used to maximize pressure difference which in turn will maximize air flow. The pitched roof is provided with a roof beneath creating a large air space that acts as an attic providing an insulating layer again conduction on external heat through roof. This air space is provided with openings to which creates an escape route for hot air transferred down the tiled roof. Due to this the second roof remains cooler than the pitched roof above. These steeped roof and deep eaves helps in rainwater discharge as heavy rains is one of the important concerns. fig_14- Attic space with high pitched roofs, fig_15- Glass roof tiles to bring in natural light 34 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

fig_16- Attic space with high pitched roofs, fig_17- Glass roof tiles to bring in natural light Fenestrations: In typical nalukettu cross ventilation is enhanced by provision of fenestrations on opposite walls. Various kinds of fenestrations are used ranging from typical two paned casement windows to wooden. Wooden jaalis are arranged meticulously to cut off glare and bring in diffused light and improve air movement. These small perforations increase the velocity of air which passes through them and enhance the mild breeze outside and allows deeper penetration of air which is very essential for thermal comfort in warm and humid climate of Kerala. These also reduce solar heat gain as direct radiation is cut down. Side lighting and top lighting strategies are used to bring in daylight and in most of the cases northern side has more number of fenestrations to bring in glare free light. Lighting glass roof tiles are used in strategic places to bring in daylight thus reducing the energy used for artificial lighting Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 35

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form study Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 37

fig_18- Sri Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur 38 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

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fig_19- Padmanabhapuram Palace 42 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

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fig_20- Mishikal Palli 44 Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021

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As the project is based on the architecture, studying the forms of the same and deriving characters that could possibly resonate in the typeface is the most crucial thing. Typefaces are meant to be read and Kerala architecture had very intricate details. So it was crucial to decide what to take from the architecture and how you choose to go about it. Athul K V | B.des | Communication Design | Graduation Project | 2021 49

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