Muziris: A Malayalam Display Typeface inspired
by Kochi's harbour heritage

CLASSROOM PROJECT  • 2020

PROJECT CATEGORY
Type Design

SCHOOL
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

DURATION
2 weeks

Muziris was an ancient port on the Malabar Coast which was once the heart of the legendary Spice Route. Once a bustling harbor in the East, Muziris stood witness to merchants sailing across oceans to trade spices and precious stones. It was a port of call for different cultures
to arrive in Ancient India and shape its history.

Reverse stress is rarely found in Malayalam script which is generally monolinear or
vertical stress. Also, every Malayalam letterform is written in a single stroke without lifting
the writing tool.

Derived from the roots of Kerala's ancient heritage, the name has been chosen for the typeface as I believe it suits its classic look and feel, yet an experimental new shift from the script's conventional style of writing, a parallel to Muziris - once the ancient hub for change, with rounded fluid curves and the inline, that acts like a path, and smoothly let the eye navigate along the single stroked structure of the letterforms.

This typeface was designed under the guidance of Hitesh Malaviya (Rocky) and Tarun Deep Girdher as part of Semester 4 Letter Design course.