Ever thought of how iconic The Beetles logo would look in Telugu? Or the Telugu alphabet spelling out an object in the actual shape of it? Typography is the technique of arranging letters legibly while shaping it into a piece of art and Koushik Gaddam aka samba_the_designer is showing how it’s done in his own unique way. The 24-year-old has always been an artist, he shares. However, his first inspiration to try out Telugu typography wasn’t instantaneous.
His poster designs and sometimes even memes get all kinds of attention. He recalls a design he made on RGV’s birthday featuring him riding a bird with a vodka bottle in one hand and phone in another, with the message sprawled across, “Happy birthday to the Devil of Tweets and Terrorist of Films”. RGV himself shared the post and appreciated it. However, typography is clearly where his heart is set.
“Typography is a prevalent art and common in English. In vernaculars, it is more common in the West, in Spanish. In Indian languages, Malayalam artists have been actively promoting typography art in their language,” he shares.
He also admits that to try it out in Telugu was an idea given to him by a colleague. “I read Malayalam script and I had been dabbling with it for a while. My colleague and writer Uday, (who also goes by his pen name Samosa Uday) asked me why I haven’t tried it in the Telugu script. I have to credit him for putting that thought in me,” he says.
Koushik has always been an artist. “I was always getting in trouble in school for doodling in class. My mother, Kala was called in often by the faculty to complain about me. But she nurtured and encouraged me to stay creative all the way. She encouraged me to pursue art and a profession in it. Not just her, my colleague Pradeep Gangireddy guided me and helped me a lot in my early stages of designing. There are a lot of people who directly or indirectly led me to end up being an artist,” he adds, before signing off.
— Srividya Palaparthi
srividya.palaparthi@newindianexpress.com
@PSrividya53