Netflix, McDonalds, Chanel- one can recognise these brands just by the mere sighting of their logo. And what makes them unique is the classic use of fonts. While these brands have become iconic over the years, would you agree if we tell you that signboards could have a similar fate? Noida-based typeface designer Pooja Saxena does.
From the rounded 'F's of the Indian Coffee House sign at Connaught Place to the seamless juxtaposition of the Devanagari letters with that of Latin in the Ghalib Academy sign at Nizamuddin, Saxena strives to preserve fonts of Indian scripts through her work.
The seed for her interest in shapes and letterforms was planted during her childhood. "My father and my best friend's father would add beautifully lettered inscriptions on books that they gifted to us. Even before I could properly write them, as a child, I got a glimpse of how attractive letters could look," shares the 34-year-old.
A unique archive
What prompted Saxena to follow this route is the scarcity of fonts for regional texts. "It is difficult to work with regional languages because there aren’t many fonts. In English, you have several fonts to choose from while in Hindi, there are a few dozen at best. If you don't have fonts that represent the culture, different tones, and country’s personality, you can’t do justice to a particular text," she says.
What started as a blog for street letterings in Bengaluru in 2013, has now turned into a website called Indian Street Lettering (and Instagram page @matratypes), where Saxena archives images of non-printed signboards and billboards - handpainted, neon-lit, sculpted - produced locally in cities, including Chennai, Delhi, Goa, and Ahmedabad, to name a few. "Given that we have such a paucity of fonts, it is interesting to look at how people imagine letterforms. This puts one in a creative space and makes them reimagine simple letters," she explains.
Saxena's has an eagle eye for unnoticed signboards, like the vibrant red lettering of Verma Dentist in Paharganj, the bilingual plaque on Alexander Pushkin's statue at Mandi House, or the intricately engraved letterings on the tombstone art at Nicholson Cemetery. "What fascinates me is the fact that you can almost date the buildings by their signboards and the sense of optimistic modernism of the time," she adds.
Unravelling history, visually
Not a subscriber of the 'sanitisation' and homogenising of the Indian lettering, Saxena points to the Yusuf Sarai market near Aurobindo Marg where, three years ago, all shops had distinct signboards. However, due to a government rule, everything was replaced by blue and white boards, she rues, adding that time also plays a significant role in this disappearance.
In the pre-COVID era, Saxena conducted regular type walks across Delhi. "I try to make people look at the signboards as hidden messages. These walks give us an opportunity to think about what the neighbourhood was like when those signs existed. The idea is to use visual history as a means to trace the city's history," she signs off.