Deepavali Card : 2018

{exploring aphorism through letter forms }

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As a graphic designer and cultural researcher, I started the Deepavali card project in 2018. The project celebrates my bicultural identity, Kannglish (Kannada, native language + English), and the Sanskrit mantras (verses) from various Upanishads (scared texts), which are spiritual aphorisms promoting peace and harmony. These verses are usually written in Devanagiri script, but I have been exploring Kannada letter forms. These forms are derived from ancient Brahmi script, and is the spoken language in Karnataka state where I am from. Kannada script is used to depict the mantras combining with Latin letterforms to denote and unravel new meaning. This project has been my desire to hold on to my cultural history and language for future generations to embrace.

This is my first card in the series. I designed new Kannada typography based on geometric shapes inspired by Indian sweets. I wanted the card to look festive and provide a unique interactive experience, the card is packaged like an Indian sweet box. The colors are inspired from Karnataka state flag. The text reads Vasudeva Kutumbaka, meaning “The World is One Family” from Maha Upanishad. Latitutues and Logitudes numbers represents the locations the card was mailed to.