RECOGNISE NORMAL
TYPOGRAPHY CAMPAIGN
Conceptualisation | Design | Typography | Merchandise Design
For D&AD's New Blood Awards 2019 - Monotype brief, we had to create a typography-led integrated graphic design campaign that used type to celebrate a community and showcase what makes it unique.
The community I chose was the Indian Hijra community.
Year : 2019
Personal Project
Community Background
The Hijra community are the oldest ethnic Indian transgender community with over 4000 years of recorded history. Laxmi Tripathi, an Indian transgender rights activist states that a Hijra is considered to be neither man nor woman, but someone who enjoys the femininity of the world. Once a revered community that held respected positions in society such as political advisors, administrators, generals during the Mughal rule in Medieval India, the Hijra community faced criminalisation and denial of their civil rights during the British colonial administration from 1858 - 1947. This community still faces discrimination and marginalisation in recent time.
Typeface
The typeface, is a lower-case display type. It’s inspired by the Indian Devanagari script and Mughal architecture. It has a definite femininity and elegance to it that captures the essence of the Hijra community.
Posters
The Hijra community is a vibrant and colourful one, but they are invisible in society. The muted colours in the poster symbolise their invisibility and make you stop to take a second look. These posters urge people to accept Hijras and just treat them as humans. The detailed patterns around the type was inspired by Mughal architecture and Indian patterns to give it an elegant feel.
Shatter the Myth : Stop believing the stereotypes.
Beyond the Clap : They are so much more than what you see on the outside.
Embrace the Soul : Accept the human in them.
Merchandise
