This paper documents projects from the final year typography undergraduate students, as they focus on the creative stylization of Indian scripts. 22 students of the elective specialisation class were given various regional Indic scripts to study. Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bangla, Gurmukhi and Meitei were some of the official scripts that they had to work on. The objective of this assignment was to help students develop a unique and legible Indian script typeface.With various lettering innovations in Latin, regional Indian scripts seem to take a back seat in terms of innovation in typography education. Students were guided to balance cultural authenticity with contemporary experimentation, thereby deepening their understanding of roots. They had to draw and construct stylistic letterforms while retaining script identity. The project was conducted in multiple phases, where students were asked to listen to the language, practice writing the script, understand its grammar, get acquainted with the alphabets, understand stroke modulation with calligraphy, and finally, design a typeface. It focuses on how teaching methods fosters creativity, cultural relevance, and technical proficiency.Over a 12-week period, students had to research the script’s formal characteristics where ideas were generated by exploring hand-drawn stylistic forms, and refine their designs through critiques and feedback. The typefaces were used as posters, packaging, and visual identity, where students focused on consistency, legibility and conceptual depth, while encouraging innovation. Project outcomes demonstrated common challenges such as learning a non-native script and maintaining legibility under heavy stylization. This paper concludes that Indian script design not only strengthens students’ typographic understanding but also contributes to the preservation of regional cultures.
Experimental Approaches to Teaching Indic Typography: Cultural, Linguistic, and Aesthetic Considerations
