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My featured work

Following is the most recent graphic design piece that I have worked on. It is my entry for the Indian Rupee Symbol Contest. BBC reports: "The Indian finance ministry has begun a public competition to select a design for the symbol of the rupee. Read more here....."

To design the symbol for Indian Rupee, I started by first brainstorming keywords that represent India not only to Indians but also westerners:

• Gandhi
• Charkha representing self reliance and constant progress
• India’s rich culture, music and heritage
• Rs.
• Hindi word ‘Ra’
• Henna: Paisley or ‘Ambi’
• Bindi
• Zero or Shunya
• Vasudeva Kutumbakam or World is our family
• Elephant
• Om: Sound of begninnning
• Snakecharmers
• Taj Mahal
• Rich Architecture
• Familial Relationships

After that I started drawing symbols based on my keywords and ideas.
I think that symbol works on a number of levels. First of all it uses the Hindi ‘Ra’ and combines it with English ‘S’. So in essence it spells Rupees with a full stop in the end. The full stop can also be perceived as a bindi, zero or even earth, which have a lot of philosophical meaning behind it.

Now if you look at the bottom, it looks like an elephant’s trunk. The S also looks like a snake. The half moon is reminiscent of Taj Mahal’s top crescent. If you rotate the symbol anticlock wise, it almost looks like Gandhi ji’s Charkha or even a Saraswati Veena. It is also reminiscent of the top part of the Om. The symbol could very well resemble a musical note. The S in the symbol is almost an open paisley shape. Lastly, I feel the symbol also looks like a mother holding her child securely and lovingly, which represents a strong family.

I believe that the symbol is flowy and organic like the Devnagari script and also many Indian designs/ fonts etc. In true essence, I believe that symbol is representative of India.