Postal Triangles History Of Graphic Design VCD 302 Facilitator: Deepta Sateesh
kalapi
Rajasee Ray
Alagu Chockalingam
Pallak Goswami
Postal Triangles This project aims at taking inspiration from the history of postage in India, and creating a basic framework of an international postal system between three neighbouring fictional countries, and hence creating a set of seals for each of these countries, that give each postal system an identity.
Jarsiaa sketch. DIGITAL Highly technologically advanced region. It is the digital age - and the entire region has access to wireless communication. It is a very large region and its geography is shaped like a star, since its neighbouring countries keep acceding to it. DEMOCRACY minimal social inequality. stable economy. comfortable digital lifestyle. The country is divided into five radial districts, named the directional zones. EVERYONE uses the post. so it caters to ALL kinds of transportation - ALL kinds of mail. Non-data mail can’t be sent digitally. But the system is digital. So the postage system has a workable digital space-physical space equation. The mail houses have efficient digital systems that work full time transferring physical data into digital. Personal mail, official mail, is given the same security, except that official mail, recognized by the seal, is given top priority. The physical packages that are sent by mail are transported by air. Landing strips at each sub-zone exist, from which mail is picked up by and transported by an efficient road system.
Postage System The postage system is a digitally run system, that works very similarly to our modern day post. Air travel is the fastest means of communication, and since it is a vast region, this is the main means of non-digital mail transportation. Everything is sealed and secured digitally, and the system runs digitally. QR images are used, for quick identification and data transfer, as seals. Data is transported through digital wireless networks that reach the farthest corners of the region. So letters are no longer handwritten. They’re all sent in the form of data everything is sealed and secured digitally using digital codes, passwords and seals. Each zone has its Main Mail House, which works full time picking up, transporting, digitally recording and delivering mail. Air strips connect each sub-zone, within the sub-zones, the mail houses supervise distribution of mail via road. What does the post look like? There’s audio visual mail as well as text mail. Both are protected using passwords and seals. Along with private mail systems like gmail and yahoo, the government itself runs a similar system, which is free, and which is funded by the revenues earned by non-digital post. Non-digital post used digital print technology to secure mail. Personalized seals are available for individuals. Mail can be sent to addresses as well as IDs.
Jarsia Seals.
The seals of Jarsia are utsed as digital identifiers. They are QR(quick response) codes, readable by QR readers and cameras owned by everyone in Jarsia. These seals allow the digital postage system to recognize the code, which contains information about the source and destination of the mail that is being sent and accordingly transfer the mail. This is a secure transfer as these digital QR seals are licensed and owned by companies and individuals and cannot be forged.
Lallagullana sketch. Lallagullan is a very well administered country with efficient governing systems, one of which is the official postage system. She is technologically backwards, her technological advancement being similar to that of the Mughal Empire in medieval India. However, she has a unique approach to methods and mechanisms for almost everything. It is a fairly large region, again similar to the Mughal Empires of medieval times. Lallagullan is a peaceful kingdom, easily inspired by technology she can imitate with her technological limitations. The government is a monarchy with a king/queen and council of advisors. Just and fair ruling exists – with trials and hearings for the accused. There are well-established systems of working and administration and post. Two kinds of people use the postage system. The local man uses it to communicate with family in other regions and the merchant to carry news of trade to other parts mostly within the region of the empire. The second kind are the royals and the palace communiquÊs who also send messages to other states in different parts of the country, as well as international communication.
Postage System Mail is carried by runners and horses – the royal mail almost only by horses. Lallagullan also uses a unique system of transportation: canon mails. Canons are used to project mail across large distances within the country, from one designated area to another, and also into international territories, according to agreements with the neighbouring countries. Lallagullan has mail houses in every district, overseeing the transport of mail within the district and crossing the borders. Well established connectivity in terms of roads enables horse and foot carriers to transport mail efficiently. Both types of mail are treated differently – the local post having a regular mail system and the royal missives following a more on demand pattern but with established mail routes and rest houses/ fresh horses etc. along the way. Seals are used for – identification and as a sign of authority and as a safety measure (eg. to close the letter). What does the post look like? The post in Lallagullan consists of official government communication and also personal letters. Large packages are also infrequently carried by the system. All mail which originates from Lallagullan must bear the official seal of the Lallagullan postal system.
Lallagullan Seals.
lallagulan official seal for all mail originating from lallagulan, that is meant for within the country and for mail to Jarsia and Kalapsi. This is the Palace’s seal of authority and is to mark that it has been sent with the knowledge of the Palace and through official (state run) system. All seals have been purposely made intricate to prevent counterfeiting and are wax seals.
seal for incoming mail from Jarsia.
seal for incoming mail from Kallapsi
These are official seals of the lallagulan Fort. Stamped at the border east cannon point and west cannon point respectively the seals are applied to all mail incoming from Jarsia and Kallapsi to Lallagulan. The right facing arrow on the seals is to show incoming mail. Both seals for incoming mail from other countries are square shaped.
Kallapsia sketch. Kallapsi is a country in a state of political turmoil. It is inspired by India preindependence, and has the technological advancement of the same. Kallapsi is colonized by the British, who have taken time to infuse order in this country, and hence have just started working on bringing the technology of the country up-to-date. Kallapsi is a mineral-rich area, with many diamond mines, all controlled by her British goverenment. The mine workers are poor Kallapsis. The British run their official road and air mail system in Kallapsi, much like the postage system of pre-independent India. The people of Kallapsi as well as the government uses this official post. However, Kallapsi has an ongoing underground rebellion. A secret organization called the Kallapi has a network of spies who are all miners in the diamond mines. They have created a large underground network of tunnels for communication and secret travels that lead underground from the mines and beyond. It is this system of tunnels that the Kallapi foot spies use to navigate around the country and gather support for their rebellion. They transport their secret post through this tunnel, using these trusted spies as carriers.
Postage System The secret post of Kallapsi consists of secret mail written in code, that is transported by the Kallapi - an organization of revolutionary spies who are working against the colonizers. The routes of this system run through underground tunnels across the country between the deep diamond mines of Kallapsi. The Kallapi have an unofficial agreement with the neighbouring countries of Jarsia and Lallagullan, without the knowledge of the British, and have allies in these countries, so foot spies also carry mail internationally across the borders to these countries and back. All official international mail is carried through the British postal system in Kallapsi. What does the post look like? The secret post of Kallapsi mainly consists of coded written messages stamped with the official seal of the Kallapi.
KallapsiSeals. kalapi
LAL G U
kalapi
JAR si
A
sending to lallagullan sending to jarsia
kalapi
L
JAR A si
the seal has the reflection of kallapsi and the underground route that the organisation has the circular form is taken from the structure of the mines that they are protecting .
recieving from lallagullan recieving from jarsia
G U
AL
kalapi
kalapi
Internationalpostal system. Lallagullan canon mails her post into a designated area in the territories of both Kallapsi and Jarsia. Jarsia and Kallapsi parachute mail from their respective air transport into Lallagulan. Kallapsi’s secret post is carried by foot spies into her neighbouring countries. Once the mail crosses each border, the postal systems of these separate countries take over the responsibility of delivery, after marking the incoming international post with their respective seals.
To The Kallapi, To The Kingdom of Lallagullan,
Sirs,
Felicitations to Your HIghness,
The Democratic Government of Jarsia gives you permission to extend your tunnels into our borders for a total extent of twenty metres and no more - so that we may communicate effectively with you.
The Democratic Government of Jarsia requests your permission to build Landing Strips in your territory, so that we may communicate with your domain more easily via air mail. Thank You, Yours respectively, The Prime Minister of Jarsia.
Thank You, Yours respectively, The Prime Minister of Jarsia.
Conclusion Through this project we have tried to explore the knowledge we gathered from our research project on the history of postage in India. Our three regions were inspired from three different times n Indian history, and the kind of post prevalent them. We have tried to marry this with our own aesthetic to create distinct looks and systems for the post of our fictional countries
Acknowledgement We are obliged to our facilitator Deepta Sateesh for her guidance through this project. The research for this project was done through our earlier paper on HIstory of Postage in India, and a little more about the internet and security from qrcode.kaywa.com/.