Past Forward: A Study on Indian Design Language
Visual Communication | Publication | Illustration | Visual Archive
*This project is an interpretation of what I, as a third culture kid, deem as "Indian" and using it as a tool to connect to my Indian Heritage through design*
Past Forward: A Study on Indian Design Language intends to analyse the historical trajectory and development of Indian Graphic Design from pre-colonial to post-colonial India to develop a concrete understanding on the principles of Indian design applied during these periods. Focusing on printed matter, the study hopes to trace how the introduction of Eurocentric Design by colonial rule impacted the development of Indian Graphic Design and to critically apply the roots of Indian design heritage in today's design practice
The books explore a chronological order of the research I've conducted and applied.
The first book Looking Back, goes through a brief history of arts and design culture in Pre-Colonial, Colonial, and Post-Colonial India.
The second book Advert Archives, is a collection of old advertisements from homegrown Indian brands to study and extract motifs, visuals, and styles that I identify as Indian and see influences of the pre-colonial arts and crafts culture.
The third book Moving Ahead, makes use of the previous study covered in the two books to apply in today's modern context. In this book I re-imagine adverts from famous brands that were brought to India before independence yet seemingly don't showcase "Indian-ness" in their designs.
The posters created are of two types, the first being illustrated adverts that are an homage to the archival adverts while using software available to us designers today. The second is a re-structured advert that extracts elements from an original advert and edits them to showcase a more Indian style aesthetic.
