Zee5 home page language rail typography

Reasearching and ideating on a Zee5's home page language rail typography

Role

Visual Designer, Illustrator

Industry

Entertainment Industry

Duration

3 weeks

Stage 1. Objective

This project was for an OTT platform, Zee5, that offers popular regional content like Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Oriya, and is highly valued by viewers in those regions, sometimes even more than Hindi content.

As a visual designer, I collaborated with my team on researching and ideating on the first-letter typography for the language rail for these languages:

Kannada
Tamil
Telugu languages

Stage 2. Getting Inspired

The next step was finding inspiration and references to create my own typography. Since I wasn’t familiar with these regional languages, I drew inspiration from local shop signs, restaurant name boards, movie posters, and truck and auto typography.

Living in Bangalore at the time, I focused on reading Kannada typography in my daily life and even asked friends in Telugu and Tamil-speaking cities to send real-life references. It became a fun activity for both them and me, and over time, I even got better at understanding Kannada!

Stage 3. Ideation and Concept Development

After gathering plenty of inspiration, I began illustrating the typography for the first letter of each language, exploring multiple variations for each. Since I wasn’t very familiar with these languages, I sought feedback from people native to these regions, ensuring that every iteration was checked for letter construction, legibility, and style. Their insights helped refine the designs to be more authentic and accurate.

Ideation

First row: K in Kannada; Second row: T in Telugu; Third row: T in Tamil

More ideation and final selections

Once I had my first set of rough sketches, I sought feedback again, asking people to rate which illustrations they found the most attractive, legible, and prominent. This time, I reached out to a wider circle, including those who weren’t part of the research phase, to ensure unbiased opinions and fresh perspectives.

Finally I got my final three typography illustrations.

From left to right: T in Telugu, K in Kannada, and T in Tamil

Stage 1. Objective

As a visual designer, I collaborated with my team on researching and ideating on the first-letter typography for the language rail for these languages:

Kannada
Tamil
Telugu languages

Stage 2. Getting Inspired

Stage 3. Ideation and Concept Development

Ideation

First row: K in Kannada; Second row: T in Telugu; Third row: T in Tamil

More ideation and final selections

Finally I got my final three typography illustrations.

From left to right: T in Telugu, K in Kannada, and T in Tamil

Stage 4. Before and After

This is the language rail that we had earlier.

Before

This is the screen after the new typography illustrations.

After

Stage 5: Final screen

The introduction of new typography is expected to significantly enhance the overall visual appeal of the app.

Stage 5: Final screen

The introduction of new typography is expected to significantly enhance the overall visual appeal of the app.

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