Workshop on ‘Typography and Calligraphy’ 2018 @ ICAT, Bangalore

On 20th to 22nd of August, 2018, a workshop on ‘Typography and Calligraphy’ was conducted by Mr. Sudeep Gandhi, Designer by profession, Calligraphist by soul, an Artist as a whole. He has won the competition organised by Govt. of India on Designing a Logo for BRICS Summit 2016 and was honoured in the hands of the External Affairs Minister of India, Smt. Sushma Swaraj. The three-day session of Mr. Sudeep Gandhi was filled with surprises. There were experiments done in class to see how type talks to us; and the result made it clear that type speaks to us in ways that we do not consciously imagine.

There was a series of activities and games relating to how type affects us psychologically—from associating it with different emotions to speech, to sounds, to smells and even taste. Through design, the students learnt the psychology of type and the way our brain reacts to alignment and spacing between each alphabet and word. Mr. Sudeep had a unique and fun way of putting his point across, which was often through interactive slide presentations and involving students in self-expressive activities like talking about their works. The overarching theme for the session was to explore how typography creates an emotional connection by evoking mood, creating meaning and conveying personality. Each day included lectures, creative sessions, individual feedback, experiments and group discussions.

The workshop proposed a final project to write / draw / create any three words of students’ own choice and typographically express their respective meanings to creatively indulge mood. On the final day of workshop, Mr. Sudeep disclosed his set of exclusive calligraphy tools and demonstrated the art, skill and grace of freehand calligraphy in more than 15 different techniques. The students were also encouraged to try their hands on the tools. Learning with fun for three days ended with surprising outputs from students, hinting them about their own potential.