India Street Lettering zines: Tiles

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In the summer of 2023, I took the plunge to turn my typographic discoveries and theses from India Street Lettering into honest-to-God printed matter: pint-sized, self-published zines that each centre on a tiny sliver of public lettering in India, catalysed by a medley of influences such as material, script, location, function and historical context.

The common thread that binds together the first batch of zines is the usage of tiles as a material for signage. It is a subject that can scarcely be covered in three zines, but we’ve got ourselves a start. From the azulejos of Panjim to tiled wayfinding signs in New Delhi and multiscript mosaic lettering, these zines show us how a material that we don’t readily associate with public lettering in India does, in fact, play its part in the making of memorable signage.

№1 Azulejos of Panjim, Goa

Signages on hand-painted, glazed tiles abound in the streets of Panjim as a striking visual reminder of the lasting Portuguese influence in India’s smallest state.

№2 Mosaic Letters in Devanagari & Latin

Mosaic signs offer up an excellent opportunity to study how the vastly different letterforms of Devanagari and Latin scripts adapt to a limiting medium.

№3 Tiled Wayfinding in New Delhi

An unexpected sighting of multi-script, monospaced letterforms in the wild in the form of fast-disappearing wayfinding signs in New Delhi.

  • In Pursuit of Typographic Cityscapes

    In Pursuit of Typographic Cityscapes

    A look back at a zine-making workshop that I facilitated for students of publication design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (Bangalore), which was focused on documenting and sharing street lettering from the neighbourhood of Ulsoor.

  • Letter by Letter: Short Film & Exhibition

    Letter by Letter: Short Film & Exhibition

    2023 was an exciting year: I received a small grant from the Bangalore International Centre (BIC) as part of their B•LORE programme to make a short film about street lettering in Bangalore’s M.G. Road. The film was screened at their annual festival, where I also got the opportunity to mount an exhibition.