Paalam Display Typeface | Typeface Design

Paalam is a Tamil-Latin stylised display typeface that is designed specifically to support headliners, caption, posters, branding and other display uses. 

The Latin script is built from Tamil script drawing inspiration from Gothic style under the contemporary light and reinterpreted it in experimental form. 

The typeface was a part of my masters project. The purpose of the typeface was to address the gap of the lack of Tamil display typefaces in the market. 

Intense research was done on the origin of Tamil language and how the script has evolved over hundreds of years. I investigated Tamil in printed materials over centuries, the reason for the scarcity of Indic script typeface’s especially with Tamil. Does post-colonial positively or negatively impact the lack of Tamil typeface? Secondly, I wanted to find the reason for the lack of stylized Tamil-Latin display typeface. This in result is the design process of my current typeface Paalam.

a. Gothic texture inspire neoclassical font emphasized under contemporary light

b. Strong stroke contrast chiseled cut that is seen in gothic typefaces.

c. Tall, bold, condensed semi serif style that has a modern touch to it.

d. Slight symmetric and asymmetric at the same time

e. Using the strong geometric features of Tamil Brahmi script in designing Latin script