chukki.wordpress · 2008. 6. 10. · process documentation . chukki: deriving kannada typeforms for...

Deriving Kannada typeforms for the Web

http://chukki.wordpress.com

SANJAY BASAVARAJU . PGDPD GRAPHIC DESIGN . NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN . APRIL 2008

Random view 1 Foreword

1 Challenges

3 Blog

5 Inspiration=Conversationwithmymother

6 Background

7 Objective

7 Process

8 Categorization

9 Categorizationtable

10 Metaphor

12 Structure

14 Redability

15 VisualGrammar

17 Insights

18 FreehandExplorations

19 Selectingletterforms

20 VectorOutlines

21 Pixelforms

22 Keylineguides

23 ‘9Pixel’Chukki

23 The‘7Pixel’challenge

24 ‘7Pixel’Chukki

25 Unicodestandards

26 Diacriticalmarks

27 Simulation

28 Directions:IndicscriptsonAmazonKindle

29 Directions:Hintabletypeface

30 Inferences

30 Acknowledgements

31 Appendixi:Intensity

32 Appendixii:Form

33 Appendixiii:Thrust

34 Appendixiv:Leading

35 AppendixV:Kerning

36 Appendixiv:Leading

37 Bibliography

37 Webliography

38 Contact

Chukki: Deriving Kannada typeforms for the Web

AtypedesignprojectbySanjayBasavaraju

4thSemesterPGDPDGraphicDesign

Guide:SureshImmanuel

May10,2008


InmemoryofLateRKJoshi


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Foreword

Religionprobablyplayedthemostimportantrole

indeterminingthestructureandconstructionof

Indianscripts.

Earlier,intheIndianculture,writingwasconsidered

asinferiortospeech.Anditwasimportanttorecord

theVedastoo.Andwithspeech,perhaps,thecontent

ofVedasweregettingdiluted.

SinceVedashadtobepronouncedcorrectly,

Brahmi,thephoneticscriptwasborn.Ifyousee,the

ArabicandGraeko-Romanformsarederivedfrom

pictogramsorideograms.TheIndianletterformsare

schematic designs based on the classification of the

vedicsounds.

Later,thearchaic,cursiveformsofMaheshwari

BrahmievolvedintotheangularformsofAshokan

lettersandfurtherintoBharati,Devalipi(Nagari)

andDevanagari.

Typeformsgraduallychange,ratherevolve,

withculture.WhatIalsounderstandisthatthe

typeformschangebecauseofthemediumtoo.

AndontheWeb,theKannadascripthastomakea

Challenges

1.TheKannadascriptiscurvyandrightdecisions

havetobetakenwhentheformsarederivedonthe

pixelgrid.

2.Everyakshara(letter)intheKannadascript

canbecategorizedaccordingtotheirbasicforms

irrespectiveofthefactwhetheritisavowelora

consonant.(ThankstoSuresh,myguide,whohad

providedthisimportantinsightwhenAsutosh,my

senior,hadpresentedanOriyatypefaceinhisjury.)

3.Compatibilityisalsoamajorissue.Howwouldthe

Kannadatypefacelookonbrowsers?

4.Itisimportantnottowastetoomuchtimeon

researchbecausethereareenoughprojectsdone

onsouth-indianscripts.Sotheprojectshouldbuild

uponthoseprojectsratherthanstartingfrom

scratch.Thiswaytheeffectiveoutputwillbeone

levelup.

5.Although,familiarityoftheKannadascript

helps,itisessentialtobasealldesignsontheright

proportionofeveryaksharaandnegateselfby

executingtheunderstoodtask.Toachievethat,

thoroughunderstandingofletterformsisnecessary.

PROCESS DOCUMENTATION . CHUKKI: DERIVING KANNADA TYPEFORMS FOR THE WEB

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Lettersarethings,not pictures of things. Eric Gill, Type Designer


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Blog

Ablogisessentialwhenastudentisworkingonsuch

anextensiveproject.Thishelpsrecordthoghtsas

andwhentheypopinthemind,whichmayleadthe

studenttotakeeffectivedecisions.

Italso,inaway,makessurethatdocumentation

oftheprocessisdoneduringtheprojectperiod.

Documentingtheprojectaftertheprojectismaybe

justanotherritual.Regularupdatingofabloghelps

tracktheprojecttoo.

Italsogivestheguideanopportunitytosharehis/

herthoughts.Thiswaythestudent-guideinteraction

isrecordedforeverontheweb.Peopledoingsuch

kind of work around the world may benifit from the

thoughts/resourcessharedinthisblog.

Thisisnotanewconcept.Manydesignstudents

maintainablogwhentheyareworkingonaproject.

Ijustthoughtitwouldbeuseful.

Andifanybodyasksyouaboutyourprojector

something,directthemtoyourblog.Iamalso

thinkingofthemakingasmall-sizedpublicationat

theend,iftimepermits,byeditingthecontentof

thisblogandusingit.



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Text rendered on Yahoo! Kannada


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Inspiration = Conversation with my mother

Mother:Whatareyoudoing?

Me:IamreadingnewsonYahooKanndada,online.

Mother:YahooKannada?Oh!

Me:YahoooffersKannadacontentnow.

Mother:Letmetryreading,too.

MeanwhileIobserveherreactions...

Mother:Seemsliketheyarestillworkingonthe

page.Thetextlooksroughandnotsmooth.Itis

uncomfortabletoread.

Me:WouldyouuseYahooifthelettersaresmooth

andtextiscomfortabletoread?

Mother:Maybe...


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Background

Over35millionpeopleworldwidespeakthe

language, Kannada. The first written record in the

Kannadalanguageistracedto230BC.Today,the

KannadalanguageiswrittenusingtheKannada

script,whichiscurvy.

TheKannadascripthasenteredtheWebmedium.

Recently,contentproviders,suchasYahoo,Google,

Microsoft,andAOL,arelookingatlocalcontentas

the solution to reach out to specific user groups.

Readabilityisthemainconcernoftextappearingin

largevolumesonthescreen.

Thereisalimittowhichatypecandifferfromits

acceptedskeletonbeforeitbecomesuncomfortable

toread.

Whenatypeisdesigned,twomainaspects,legibility

andelegance,shouldbelookedat.Itisessentialfor

someonewhoknowsthelanguageandisfamiliar

withthescripttodesignatypeface.


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To derive Kannada letter forms for the computer screen by decisively laying pixels

Objective

01.UnderstandingKannadascript

02.Understandingthetechnology

03.CaseStudies:Analyzingexistingscreentypes

04.Handdrawnanalysisofcharacterset

05.Analyzingandmarkingpeculiaritiesofthe

scriptwithrespecttogrid

06. Defining design criteria

07.Categorizingtheaksharasaccordingtothe

formsandproportions

08.Preliminarysketches

09.Recordingdesignguidelines

10.Design

Process


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Categorization

Twosemestersback,LetterDesigncoursewas

makingsensetome,sinceIwasinterestedintype

design.Butnowitreallymakesalotofsense.Tarun

hadgivenusafewhandouts.Onesuchhandoutwas

‘AnalysisoftheDevanagariscript’.BackthenIhad

readit.NowwhenIwentthoughtthearticle,some

veryimportantpointsinthehandouthasgivena

directionformyproject.

Thehandoutespeciallytalksaboutcategorizationof

MarathiscriptbyDrBhagvat.Thestudyisinteresting.

Thecategorizationhehasdoneisphenomenal

consideringthereisverylessinformationavailable

onthegraphicanlysisofDevanagariscript.

ಏ ವ ಮ ಇ ಞ ಪ ಫ ಷ ಘ

An example of a form family

An example of dynamics of a form family

76 pt Tunga


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Now for my benefit I am fine-tuning Dr Bhagvat’s

processofcategorization.FornowIwillstartinhis

footsteps,butIwillchangetheprocessaccordingto

thepeculiaritiesoftheKannadascript.Asthought

earlier,Iamgoingaheadwithcategorizationof

Kannadalettesbasedonform.Thisexercisewill

makemylifemucheasierwhenIhavetodesignthe

letterset.

Pleaserefertotheimagerightatthebeginningof

thepost.IhavedecidedtocategorizetheKannada

lettersintothreecategories—Base(Parentforms),

Derivatives(Derivedfromparentforms),and

Independent(Uniqueforms).

ಅರಉಖಎಒಕಟದನಝ

ಆಈಊಋಏಓ�ಣಧಸಯ

ಅಂಠ

ೠವಔ

ಐಥ

ಅಃ

ಮಙ

ಡ

ಇಚ

ಢ

ಞಜ

ಪಬ

ಫಭ

ಷ ಘ

ಶಹಳಗಲಛತ

Baseforms

Derivedforms

Independentforms

Categorization table


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Metaphor

Anotherchallengewastotakeallthebaseformsand

seeifIwouldbeabletorelatesomethingwitheach

oneofthem.

Now,howwouldthishelpmedesignatype?Maybe

itdoesn’thelpme.Butthatwasmywayoflooking

ataesthetics.Imeaniftheformhastolookreally

beautiful,beyondgoodproportionsandlegibility,it

hastoberelatedtotheaestheticforminourmind.

Although I struggled a lot to figure out the metaphors

withsomehelpfromAsutoshandArmeensincethey

don’tknowthelanguageandcan’trelatetothescript.

Formethisexercisewastough,forthesereasons:

1.WheneverIusedtothinkofaletter,Iusedtothink

oftheimagethatisusuallyassociatedwiththe

sound.Forinstance,inEngish,WhenIsay‘A’youwill

thinkofapple.Nowthatisbasedonthesound.But

canwethinkofanimagewiththeform?

2.Iamexposedtoscripttoomuch.Andthatisina

way,sometimesworksagainst.Youaresofamiliarto

formsyoutreatthemastextandyoutrytochange

thestructureaccordingly.Butthereneedstobean

objectivebasetobuildalettersetandnotintution.

3.Asutoshprovidedthisinsight:“Whydon’tyoutry

gerometricforms?Imean,usecirclesandsquares.”

. . . beyond good proportion and legibility, the typeform has to relate

to the aesthetic forms in our mind.


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Maybeyouwillbeabletolookatproportions

mathematically,ratherthangoingbyafewhand

writtenexamples.”Suddenlyeverythingfellinplace.

IknewwhatdirectionIshouldtake.

4.DrBhagvatsuggeststhatcategorizationofthe

letterformscanalsobedoneaccordingto:(i)Thesize

(ii)Simplicity(iii)Motion/stroke/angles(iv)Endings/

flourishes (v) Anatomy

5.DrBhagvathasalsostudiedcharacteristicsof

Devanagari.Andhisanalysisiscomprehensive,

althoughdebatable.ButIalsoneedtostudythe

characteristicsoftheKannadaletterforms.Itwill

helpmewhenIstartconstructingtheletterforms.

Atthismoment,thestuggleistounderstand

proportions.Notmuchstandardizationhasbeen

broughtaboutintheKannadascript.

Baby (on its back)

Coconut

Snake

Squirrel

Betel leaf

Swan

Unicycle

Butterfly

Cashew fruit

Sheep head

CaterpillerMetaphorization of typeforms


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Structure

Thegeometricconstructionhasenhancedthelook

ofthebaseletterforms.Theynowlookserene.And

proportionsaremaintained.

Anotherinterestingthing(onceagainthe

thoughtborrowedfromDrBhagvat’sprocessof

categorization)isthateveryletterformwillhavea

specific unit based on the width.

Takealookattheconstructionofskeletonofthe

baseletterforms.Theseareintialsketches.

Therearemanyreasonswhyskeletonshouldbebuild

upon first.

Skeletonoftheletteformwillhaveastructure

thathelpsgainlegibilityevenbeforetheweights

arestuffedintothestructure.Oncetheskeletonis

perfect,itisjustamatterofchoicetoplacedifferent

weights around the defined structure.

Withthisexercise,Ihavelearntthesethings:

1. Place letterforms under specific width. Categorize

letterformsbasedonthewidthtoo.Andifneeded,

createone’sownunitforwidth.IhaveusedGraphical

unit.Onegraphicalunitbeing1cm.Mostletterforms

areplaceinside4graphicalunit.

The letter ‘ಅ’ (Geometric construction, Dec ‘08)


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2.Thelogicbehindcurvesinallletterformscanbe

repeatedtocontroltoomanyvariations.Sothe

circlesthathelpconstructonebaseletterformmay

helpconstructanotherletterformwithoutincreasing

theradiusofanyofthecircles.

3.Ifthesolutiontotheproblemisright,thenithas

tobebeautifultoo.Justsolvingaproblem,intype

design,isnomoreachallenge.

4.Beforeconstructingletterforms,claritycan

beachievedbycreatingthumbnailsofthetrial

constructions.Thenbasedontheanalysisof

thumbnails, final constructions can be carried out.

5.Whygeometry?Becausesymmetrycomesintoplay.

And symmetry definitely works on the screen. And

IamsureIwillhavetoughtimedealingwiththese

formsonthescreengrid.

6.Usinggraphsheetsasmediumtoplanthe

constructionisrecommended.Iamusingabasic

Camlin compass to create circles of specific radius,

ablueleadedpenciltomarkthecenterpointsofthe

circlesandtodrawdiagonalsthathelpdecidethe

formofmostletters,andacharcoalpenciltoextract

theformoutoftheconstruction.

The letter ‘ಉ’ (Geometric construction, Dec ‘08)


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Redability

TheKannadascriptcanalsobecategorized

accordingtothethrustandmovementofeach

letterform.

InanIndicletterform,thereisadominantfeature

andasub-dominantfeatures.AndIhadexactlythe

samecriteriatocategorizethelettersaccording

totheform.Butnowthereisanotherinsightthat

wasprovidedbyalanguageexpert,DrVidwans,a

professoratNationalInstituteofDesign.

Thereissomethingcalled‘Thrust’.Yesandthatisa

veryimportantaspectintypedesign,especiallyin

Indictypedesign.Toexplainitplainly,Thrusthelps

inreadability.Attheendoftheday,althougheach

letterislegible,itwillco-existwithotherletter.

Sotherehastosomekindofahintfortheeyeto

smoothlyacceleratethroughtext.

Therearetwokindsofthrust:(i)explicitthrustand

(ii)implicitthrust.Theexplictthrustcanbeseen

dominantintheDevanagariscript.TheDevanagari

letterformshanglikefruitsfromthetopbar.The

Romanletterformshavestrongbase.Anditseems,

Oriyasciptisthemostbalanced.

An example of implicit thrust points, in this case, at the base

An example of explicit thrust points, in this case, the horizontal bars

68 pt Tunga

68 pt Tunga


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Visual Grammar

InKannadascriptfewlettershavetopbarsand

othersdon’t.SoIneedtoworkonthevisualgrammar.

Eachletterformhastobeseenwithrespecttoforms

ofotherletters.

Rightnow,Iamworkingontheskeletonofthe

Kannadaletterform.Iamlookingatletterformsas

livessinceweseemthemallaround.Weintearctwith

themconstantly.

Thereferencetolivingbeinghelps.Skeletonhelps

consolidatethedesigncriteriasuchasproportion,

size,movement,andbalance.ThenIneedtoadd

bodypartsandgiveitashape.AndthenIneedto

lookatthesoulofthetypeface.AndtrytoseehowI

veryimplicitlyplacethesoulineachletterform.

IwouldliketosharemorewhenIreachthatstage.As

ofnow,thisismydesignprocess:

(i)Constructionofbaseandindependentletterforms

(ii)Creatingavisualgrammar

(iii)Placingsoulineachletterform

Intheimageabove,youcanseethattheformsare

designedtofeedthecomputer.Theyaredesigned

forpixelgrid.Andwhenyouaretryingtohintthe

typefaceitiseasiertoassesswhichpixeltoswitchon

oroff.

Gaganachukki: Kannada typeforms that the computer can easily byte or chew


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E

A

B

C

D

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Proportions, Movement, Counterforms, and Structure


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Insights

Suresh,myguide,wasquitehappywiththe

geometricconstructionoftheletterforms.Buthe

wasn’t entirely satisfied with it.

Thesewerehisinsights:

(i) Complex to simple

Yes,onceicategorizedthelettersbasedonthebasic

form.Ihavetonowchooseanythreeletterswhich

arereallycomplex.WhenIsaycomplex,ithastobe

acombinationofcurves,multidirectionalstrokes,

morethantwopointsofthrusts,andmaximum

width.SowhenIsetthemrightIwouldbeableto

comeupwithabetter’designcriteria’.

(ii) Structure follows form or the other way around

Balanceiskey.Iamcreatingastructureandplacing

theletterformsinsidethestructure.ThiswayImay

notbeabletoinnovate.Thereisanotherapproach..

Icanbringinspontaneityintothefroms.Butthis

approachmaybecomplicatedbecauseIneedto

standardizethegrid.SoIneedtouseboththe

approachesandcreateadesigncriteriabasedonthe

analysisfrombothapproaches.

(iii) Look at letters as pure forms

Ihavebeenlookingatlettersasforms.ButIneedto

reallylookatthemasimages.Togathersomekind

ofaninsightthatwoulddrivethedesign.Iwouldbe

abletothatwithsomesketchesoftheletterforms.

Build the grid around forms, rather than forcing them intospecific grids.


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Freehand Explorations

Quotingwhatmyguide,Suresh,says,”Itisimportant

to work on the freehand letterforms and then define

agrid,ratherthanforcingtheletterformsinagrid.

Thiswayonecanbeinnovative.”

Icompletelyagree.Someissuesthatneedtobe

addressedatthispointare:

(i)Howmuchaletterformcanbestretchedwith

respecttoitsskelton

(ii)Legibilityisalsoakeyissue

(iii)Proportion

(iv)Width

Theconstraintsherearetheheightandtheweight.

This way, it is possible to find the natural form. And

theamazingpartisthatduringthisexercisedone

noticespeculiaritiesofthescript.Suchpeculiarities

shouldberecordedsincetheyprovidevaluable

insightintomakingthefaceinteresting.

Toomuchofstandardizationcanalsokillascript.

Whendrawingeveryletter,ithastobedrawndevoid

ofhowtheformsoftheotherletters.Thiswayone

willbeabletoretainthepurityofeveryletterform.

Outline of selected freehand forms


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Selecting letterforms

Selectingaletterformfromtheexplorationsisa

crucialstageagain.Thisstageiswhereatypeis

made.Toselectaletterformoneneedstobeaware

ofthesefactors:

(i) Intution

Intutionisessential.Butintutionaloneisnot

enoughtoselectaperfectfromoutfromtherest.

Intutionwillonlyactasapointer.Atypedesigner

hastoanalyzethosepointers.Intutionmaypointto

morethanoneletterforms.Asatypedesigner,one

hastomeasurethequalitiesoftheforms.Herethe

artistexits.

(ii) Scale

Amathematicianenters.Theletterformcanbe

analyzedbasedonthesefactors:size,simplicity,

motion, strokes, angles, endings, flourishes, links,

lines, loops, circles, fly-wheels, pegs, breaks, and

dots.Andatypedesignerhastoseeallthisinevery

letterformbeforeselectingtheonethatbestsuits

theneed.Themathematicianexits.

(iii) Sensitivity

Asurgeonenters.Withutmostcare,everyletterform

hastobedisectedandcategorizedunderafamily.

Againwhenatypedesigneriscategorizing,heorshe

may use self-defined criteria. Here the scope of work

justmovesbeyondletterforms.Thesurgeonexits.

(iv) Embracing

Acriticenters.Thisisthestagewhereatype

designerwillembracealetterformandmaybe

takeitfurtherthanexpected.Atthisstage,every

letterformbecomesaninsight.

Good lettering . . . is not self expression but complete self negation in the service of a correctly understood task. Jon Tschichold, Type Designer


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Vector Outlines

Atthisstage,whentheoutlinesaredrawnon

computer,thereisscopeofmanipulatingthe

commoncharactersinallletterformssothatit

becomeseasierwhenconstructingthetype.

Whenyouactuallyseetheletterformsplacedin

aline,atypedesignercanseethestressorthrust

keylines.Suchkeylinesenhanceredability.Every

letterformwilladheretoatleasttwokeylines.

Vector outlines

Keylines


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Pixel forms

Atthisstage,atypedesignerhastoresist

manipulation.Itistemptingtoactuallystart

deriving the final forms at this stage. But that again

willhampertheoutput.Itisessentialthatatype

designerworksmerelyasacopyartist.

Intheaboveimage,youcannotice:

(i)Howthehanddrawnletter,nowvectorized,is

placedonthepixelgrid.Thethrustkeylines(inpink)

are clearly defined.

(ii)Howthepixelformisderivedbehindthe

vectorizedform

(iii) Howthepixelformbehaveswithjustthesupport

ofgrid

(iv)Howthepixelformbehaveswithoutthesupport

ofgridorthevectorizedform

(v)Howthepipelformbehavesintheactualsize

Atthisstage,asatypedesigner,youneedtogo

backandseeiftheformisbalanced.Atthisstage,

onecanvaguelytouchuponaestheticstoo.Itis

alsoimportanttoseehowitrendersinactualsize

becauseattheendofthedayuserinteractswiththe

actualsize.

Extraction of pixel forms


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Keyline guides

At this stage, the keyline guide is well defined. It

becomesalineofcontrol.Itcommandsthewayone

letterforminteractswiththeother.Therehastobe

harmonyateverystage.Whentwodifferentbase

formsareplacedtogether,therehastobesome

commonelementsthatdrivetheeyethrougha

webpagefulloftext.

Every letterform will find a home inside this keyline

guideandtheyco-existeventhoughtheylook

diverseintermsoftheirorigin.

The ‘keyline guide’ will be finetuned and detailed

afterthestudyisdoneontheexistingKannada

typefacesonthewebandthecategorizationof

forms.

Working version of the ’keyline guide’ will be defined

just before the defining the design criteria. Keeping

thekeylineguideopentochanges,inaway,brings

flexibility in the process.

Base and independent letterforms adhering to the guides


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‘9 Pixel’ Chukki

Kagunitha

Ottakshara

The ‘7 Pixel’ challenge

Theprocesssharedinthisdocumentcanbeapplied

tocreateKanndatypeatvariouspixelsizes.Premier

Kannadaonlineresources,suchasYahooandMSN,

usethetextassmallas6pixel.

AfterenoughanalysisofthesizeoftheKannada

typefaceusedontheWeb,Iconcludedthatonlywith

7pixelsx-height,onewouldbeabletodojusticeto

theKannadaletterforms.

Anditwouldbeanirrationaldecisiontoactually

createweightsatthissize.Weneedtoseriously

thinkabouttheweightsystemfortheWeb.

‘7Pixel’Chukkiwouldlookmorecompact.Alotmore

text can be fit into the column. Since it requires

less leading, one would be able to fit few more

lineswiththe‘7Pixel’.Itistoughtoimagineuntil

thewholealphabetsetiscreatedatacertainsize

andsimulatedonabrowsertoseehowitactually

rendersonthemonitor.

‘7Pixel’isalsoanidealsizeforanyotherdevices

withlesserresolutionandsmallerscreens.For

instance,anhandheldmobileorapalmtopwouldbe

gladtoshowcasethiskindofasize.Soletusseethe

birthofthe‘7Pixel’Chukki.


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‘7 Pixel’ Chukki

Unicode

Intextprocessing,Unicodetakestheroleofproviding

auniquecodepoint—anumber,notaglyph—for

eachcharacter.Inotherwords,Unicoderepresents

acharacterinanabstractwayandleavesthevisual

rendering(size,shape,fontorstyle)toothersoftware,

suchasawebbrowserorwordprocessor.

Unicodeincludesamechanismformodifying

charactershapeandsogreatlyextendingthe

supportedglyphrepertoire.Thiscoverstheuseof

combiningdiacriticalmarks.Theygetinsertedafter

themaincharacter(onecanstackseveralcombining

diacriticsoverthesamecharacter).Unicodealso

containsprecomposedversionsofmostletter/

diacriticcombinationsinnormaluse.

TheIndicscriptssuchasKannadaandHindiare

eachallocatedonly128codepoints,matchingthe

ISCIIstandard.ThecorrectrenderingofUnicode

Indictextrequirestransformingthestoredlogical

ordercharactersintovisualorderandtheforming

ofligaturesoutofcomponents.Somelocal

scholarsarguedinfavorofassignmentsofUnicode

codepointstotheseligatures,goingagainstthe

practiceforotherwritingsystems.


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Proposed changes in Unicode Standards for Indic scripts - Kannada

0C8 0C9 0CA 0CB 0CC 0CD 0CE 0CF

0 I0C90

pÚ0CA0

ÁÚ0CB0

#ÝÞ0CC0

Fà0CE0

1 sÚ0CA1

™0CB1

#ß0CC1

’0CD1

š0CE1

2 #M0C82

J0C92

vÚ0CA2

Ä0CB2

#à0CC2

•0CD2

3 #N0C83

K0C93

y0CA3

×Ú0CB3

#ä0CC3

”0CD3

4 L0C94

}Ú0CA4

Ÿ0CC4

–0CD4

5 @0C85

OÚ0C95

¢Ú0CA5

ÈÚ0CB5

›0CD5

%0CF5

6 A0C86

R0C96

¥Ú0CA6

ËÚ0CB6

#æ0CC6

œ0CD6

00CE6

7 B0C87

VÚ0C97

¨Ú0CA7

ÎÚ0CB7

#æÞ0CC7

10CE7

8 C0C88

YÚ0C98

«Ú0CA8

ÑÚ0CB8

#æ ä0CC8

20CE8

9 D0C89

\0C99

ÔÚ0CB9

30CE9

)0CF9

A E0C8A

^Ú0C9A

®Ú0CAA

#0CBA

#æà0CCA

40CEA

B Fß0C8B

aÚ0C9B

±Ú0CAB

#Ú0CBB

#æàÞ0CCB

50CEB

C —0C8C

d0C9C

¶0CAC

(0CBC

#è0CCC

60CEC

D ÁÚhß0C9D

ºÚ0CAD

?0CBD

#é0CCD

70CED

E G0C8E

j0C9E

ÈÚß0CAE

#Û0CBE

˜0CDE

80CEE

F H0C8F

l0C9F

¾Úß0CAF

#Ý0CBF

90CEF

Unicode standards


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Diacritical marks

Adiacriticordiacriticalmarkisasmallsignadded

toalettertoalterpronunciationortodistinguish

betweensimilarwords.ThetermderivesfromGreek

(diakritikos,“distinguishing”).

“Diacritic”isbothadjectiveandnoun,whereas

“diacritical”isonlyanadjective.Manydiacritical

marksareoftencalledaccents.

Adiacriticalmarkcanappearaboveorbelowa

letter,orinsomeotherposition.Itsmainusageis

tochangethephoneticvalueofthelettertowhich

itisadded,butitmayalsobeusedtomodifythe

pronunciationofawholewordorsyllable,like

thetonemarksoftonallanguages,todistinguish

betweenhomographs,tomakeabbreviations.

A letter which has been modified by a diacritic may

betreatedasanew,individualletter,orsimplyas

aletter-diacriticcombination,inorthographyand

collation.

Thisvariesfromlanguagetolanguage,andin

somecasesfromsymboltosymbolwithinasingle

language.


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Simulation

Rendering of the Kannada type on Yahoo

Rendering of ‘7 Pixel’ Chukki

Intheaboveimage,youcanseethatthetext

renderedonYahoohasalotofinconsistencies.Some

formsarenotlegible.Therearelumpsofpixelsin

someformscreatingspots.Toknowmore,please

refertoAppendix1.

Whereas,intheimagebelow,youcanseehow

Chukkiisbeingsimulated.Chukkihasbeenbredfor

Web.Sinceenoughworkisputintotranslatingthe

KannadaletterformsfortheWeb,itworks.Chukkican

betranslatedtovariousmediums.


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Directions: Indic scripts on Amazon Kindle

OneofmydreamprojectsistoworkforAmazon

Kindle.Currentlyitiscompatibleonlyforbooks

authoredinEnglishlanguage.Itwasreleasedin

November2007intheUnitedStates.

Itisconsideredtobethefutureofreading.Kindle’s

displaydoesn’tworklikeanLCDbacklitdisplay.Its

uniquedisplaytechnology,whichiscallede=paper,

hasgotravereviewsfromcritics.

Asofnow,itprovidestwofonts—PMNCaecelia

(Serif)andNeueHelvetica(SansSerif).Itisonly

capableofdisplaying4levelsofgreyscale.

Inafewyears,itwillbereleasedinIndia.Thereisa

tremendousopportunitytoworkonIndictypefaces

forthisKindle.Itischallengingtounderstanda

particulartechnologyandthendesignforit.Itis

importantfortypedesignstudentstoworkonfresh

mediums,suchasAmazonKindle.Newmediums

allowsthestudentstodesigntheirownprocessfor

derivingletterforms.

Kindleisgoingtosaveafewtreesinfuture,so

spendingsometimeonbetteringitwouldmake

sense.Soifyouareadesignstudentwantingto

designtype,thenworkwithAmazonKindle.

Amazon Kindle (Front)


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Directions: Hintable typeface

KeepingtheChukkistructureasabaseanhintable

typefacecanbedesigned.Iamintheprocessof

desigingthehintableversionofChukkicalled

‘Gaganachukki’(Beyondtheobjective).

Ifyoulookatthesamplebelow,youcanseehow

Chukkitakesshapeintopixelformsof10Pixel,9Pixel,

and8Pixel.Chukkiisdesignedin7-Pixelx-height.Ican

nowconcludehappilythattheprocessdesignedto

deriveletterformfortheWebisworking.

‘10-Pixel’ Chukki ‘9-Pixel’ Chukki ‘8-Pixel’ Chukki


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Acknowledgements

IamgratefultomyguideMrImmanuelSuresh,who

influenced me to take up this project. And listened

tomewhenIexplainedtohimtheprogressofthe

project.Thebestpartbeingthefactthatheprovided

valuableinsightsabouttypecultureanddesign.

IthankMrVinodVidwansforrecommendinguseful

resourcesontypeduringtheresearchstage.

IappreciatetheeffortsofMrTarunDeepGirdherfor

introducingmetothesoulsofletterforms.Oneofthe

resourcesthathehadgiventomeduringtheLetter

Designcoursecamerealhandy.

IamgladthatIhaveaseniorlikeMrAsutoshKar

whohasbeenconstantlyinspiringmebyproviding

feedbackandhelpingmetodesignbetter.

Iwouldliketomentionthenameofmyclassmateand

friend,MsArmeenKapadia,formotivatingmewhen

thingswerenotgoingtherightwayintheproject.

WhenIlookback,IwouldalsothankMrAmit

KharsaniforintroducingmetoDevnagariscript

during the Letter Design course in the first semester.

And finally, I thank my classmates.

Inferences

Iwouldliketoshareafewthoughtsthatwerecrucial

todesignanyIndictypeface.

(i)Chukki,atthemoment,standsnotjustasabitmap

Kannadatypeface,butalsoasasystemwhichcanbe

appliedtoderiveanyformsfortheWeb.

(ii) The project also raised issues such as the influence

oftheLatintypedesignprocessontheIndictype

design.ItiscrucialforIndiantypedesignersto

discovertheirownsystemsoftypeprocesswhichcan

beencodedfromthecultureandthingsaroundus.

Whendesigingtypealwaysenvisiontheimpact.

(iii) It is crucial to design typefaces for specific

mediumsthanadaptingonetypefaceintomany

mediums.Everytypeshouldbebornoutofaneed.

(iv)Althoughthisprojectitselfseemsoutdated,

whenyouconsidertheageoftheinternetand

thecomputer,itwasagreatlearningexperience

tounderstandthemediumandworkingwithit.

Anyways,itisasmallcontributionfromadesign

studenttotheIndictypedesigners’community.

(v)Technologyshouldbefriendtype.Thereisa

tremendousscopeofinnovationhere.


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Appendix i: Intensity

Inconsistencyinintensityisanissuewiththetype

renderingontheMSNKannadaorYahooKannada

pages.Invariousplacesinthetextonecanseebunch

ofpixelsstackedtogether,whichattimesmakesthe

letterformillegible.

Insimplewords,somepixelsareswitchedonand

someareswitchedofftoattainsucharesult.For

instance,byswitchingoffthecornerpixelsina3x3

pixelmatrix,wecanrenderacircle.

MSN Kannada

Yahoo Kannada

(Images zoomed at 400%)


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Appendix ii: Form

Usually,whenafontthatisdesignedforprintis

hintedforaWebbrowser,somegeneralizationsare

made.Intheprocess,someformsbecomediluted.

Forinstance,youcannoticeintheimagebelow,

thatthex-heightofGaisreducedbyonepixeland

asaresultitlookssmallerthanotherletters.What

makesitworseisalsothefactthattheletterGahasa

horizontalbaronthehead.Thisbecomesanegative

factoraffectingreadability.

MSN Kannada

Yahoo Kannada

Whatisperhapsshockingtoseeisthat,intheimage

below,thelettersarebeingtreatedbeyondthe

knowledgeoftheirstructure.Toretainthestructure

oftheletterformontheWebischallenging.By

variouspermutationsandcombinations,forevery

letterform,apixel-formthatvalidatesthestructure

canbederived.

Ga



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Appendix iii: Thrust

Thrustlinesenhancereadability.

Morethan3thrustlinescanonlybeachievedwitha

minimumof7-pixelx-heightwiththeKannadascript.

Intheimagebelow,youcannoticethatweareonly

abletoderive2thrustlines.Itsohappensthatthe

letterformsthatdonothaveahorizontalbarwillonly

haveonethrustline.Iftheformdoesn’tadheretothe

MSN Kannada

Yahoo Kannada

remainingthrustline,thenitbehaveslikeanislandin

thetextlayout.

Forinstance,theclosedcounter-forminLadoesn’t

adheretothebottomthrustline,thereforeitbecomes

anisland.Orforthatmatter,thehorizontalstressin

Shidoesn’tadheretothetopthrustline.

La

Shi



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Appendix iv: Leading

LeadingspaceiscrucialforKannadascriptbecause

multipleconjunctsrunbelowthelineobliquely.To

accommodateconjunctstheleadingspacehastobe

validatedbeforethetextisset.

The leading space in the MSN page is definitely less

farlessthantheidealleadingspace.Andtheleading

spaceinYahoopageistoomuch.

MSN Kannada

Yahoo Kannada

Forinstance,intheimagebelow,youcannoticethat

theconjunctsareactingasintrudersintothenext

line. In the first pointer, the conjunct is merging into

theline,butinthesecondpointer,theconjunctis

gettingsquished.



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Appendix V: Kerning

KerningisanotheraspectontheWebthatisignored.

Everyletterformneedssomebreathingspace.And

justabitofextraspacemaymakeitlooklikeanodd

formout.

Forinstance,inthepointertheAnuswarashouldbe

closertothepreviousletterformratherthanbeing

closertothenextletterform.Itisalsoimportantto

define kerning for all letterforms.

MSN Kannada

Yahoo Kannada

TocontrolKerningduringhintingisachallenge.

Usually,acompromiseismade,whicheventuallyturn

outugly.Everyletterisaperson,withitsownmind,

andaccordinglyweneedtoprovidespaceforitto

functioninaculture.

Anuswara



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Appendix iv: Leading

Emphasiscanbeachievedbyvarioustypographic

styles.Inthisimagebelow,youcanseethata

bolderversionoftheKannadatypelooksmessy.Itis

nothingbutalumpofpixelsonthescreen.

Kannada script isn’t so flexible on screen to attain

differentweightssincethecounter-formsare

complexandtheyvarywitheveryletterform.

HintingabolderversionofaKannadafontmayruin

bothlegibilityandreadability.

Emphasisthroughcolorseemstheonlyotheroption

availableforemphasis.Abolderversionofthe

typehastobedesignedpixelbypixelfortheWeb.

Whendesigningabolderversionthereshouldbea

constantvalidationofform,width,andproportion.

Ifyouconsidertheconceptofweightsystemfor

Indicscript,itseemsirrational.Indicscriptscan’t

bevisualizedinboldoritalics.Forustoderive

alternativesystem,thathelpsustoachievethe

effectoftheRomanweightsystem.

MSN Kannada

Yahoo Kannada



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Bibliography

Rukmini:TypedesignforatypefaceinTamilSeshasayee,AkilaDiplomaProjectNationalInstituteofDesign,1990

Baravu:RevivaloftheTuluScriptMurthy,VaishnaviDiplomaProjectNationalInsituteofDesign,2006

Typedesign:GuidelinesforDevanagariMoudgill,MilanResearchPaperNationalInstituteofDesign,1994

Lettersfortomorrow:Experimentsintype-formdevelopmentPatel,MahendraResearchPublicationNationalInstituteofDesign,1990

DesigninformationontextcompositioninKannadaReddyTNVResearchPublicationMadrasRIND,1980

AksharYog:ConferenceonissuesrelatingtoIndianscriptsDocumentationIDC,1996

Arthaya:ConferenceonSymbologyDocumentationIDC

TypographyofDevanagariNaik,BapuraoSBombay:Directorate,GovernmentPrintingandStationery(1971).

PhonemicfrequenciesinMarathiandtheirrelationtodevisingaspeed-scriptBhagwat,DrSriramVasudeoPoonaUniversityandDeccanCollege(1961)

Webliography

DepartmentofInformationTechnology,GovernmentofIndiahttp://tdil.mit.gov.in

CenterforDevelopmentofAdvancedComputing,Indiahttp://www.cdac.in

Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannada

Microsoft:OpentypefontsforIndicscriptshttp://www.microsoft.com/typography/OpenType%20Dev/indic/intro.mspx

ClearexplanationbyArunSharmaofthefontissuesforusersofKannada.http://www.sharma-home.net/people/arun/languages/kannada/


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Contact

SanjayBasavaraju

[email protected]

www.nostraightline.com

+919924087920

About me

Iampassionateaboutmyworkandlife.Ibelievein

livingforthemoment.Ihavealwaysbeendeeply

interestedinworldcinemaandtheperformingarts.

Ihaven’tspentalifetimeindesign.Aftermajoring

inElectronicsin2001,Irealizedthatmyheart

wasn’t in it, and then pursued a certificate course

incopywritingfromMICA(MudraInstituteof

Communications,Ahmedabad).Thiswasfollowed

by five years of professional experience as Senior

GraphicDesignerinHyderabad,India.In2006.

IcametotheNationalInstituteofDesign,

Ahmedabad,IndiatopursueaPostGraduate

DiplomainGraphicDesign.

I define design as working, interpreting, and

understanding concepts within a culture and finding

solutionswithinthesame.

Interestsincludeworldcinema,FormulaOne,and

philosophy.InspiredbyGuyRitchie,WongKar-Wai,

JohnMaeda,MiltonGlaser,andAlbertCamus.

Yes. The End. Applause. :)

chukki.wordpress · 2008. 6. 10. · process documentation . chukki: deriving kannada typeforms for...

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