«The empathy behind typography»

By V Sidharthan
New Indian Express @NewIndianXpress

«Shiva Nallaperumal, the youngest Indian recipient of the Catalyst award from SOTA (The Society of Typographic Aficionados) was featured by the Forbes Magazine in its ‘30 under 30’ list as an exceptional young achiever. Shiva was here at the DJ Academy of Design, Coimbatore, recently as the college decided to honour its successful alumnus.

»“My parents were big fans of Tintin, so I had the entire collection of Tintin when I was a child. There are many doctors in my family but I didn’t do very well in school. Thankfully, my parents understood and didn’t force me into anything,” informs Shiva.

»Talking about the challenges he faced, he says, “Graphic design is a basic tool for communication. But Indian designers never celebrate their work as those in the west do. You can find out everything about graphic designers abroad but nothing can be found about Indian designers. So, finding that Indian identity in our work was challenging,” he rues. “For instance, the layout and design of Ananda Vikatan in the 70s and 80s were beautiful and innovative yet I have no idea who designed it. The designers were merely doing their job and never understood how great their work was and the influence it had on the general public.”

»Talking about the accolades he has received, Shiva says he would like to dispel any perception that it was all because of his own hardwork. “I didn’t even know that I was eligible to be featured by Forbes. I am lucky to have friends who helped me out. The Catalyst Award I received from SOTA was because my teacher made me apply for that.”

»He speaks about one of his favorite works called ‘Rewind’: “The project was for an African-American artist. He hired me to design the catalog for an exhibition of his work on the history of social justice and racism in America. He chose me because I was neither white nor black, or even American. So I would have a journalistic perspective.” He explains how this project was very tricky as it had to represent the oppression of the people. “We had to be neutral and come up with a motif that was empathetic, sombre and realistic.”

»Typography and design can influence people, as everything we read or see has typefaces and graphics. “Empathy differentiates a great graphic designer from an average designer. The ability to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and design for them…the core of any visual stuff is empathy,” he explains.»