This booklet was made as a part of the course Introduction to Field Work, in March 2020. Faculty: Dr. Nanki Nath Duration: 1 week Disha Naik & Ishwari Bhoskar B.Des. 2018 Graphic Design
Hand-Painted Signs of Old City, Ahmedabad
Wandering around Manek Chowk
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We saw
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‘Why not digital?’
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The art is dying
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Our quest to seek the artists
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Reflecting
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Wandering around Manek Chowk, we stumbled
across a street filled with hand-painted sign boards. The colourful letters against a plain background was a distinctive feature for all of them. As we walked further, we came across a lane with digitally printed signs which looked completely different from the hand-painted ones. Though they were old, there was something charming about these hand-painted signs that was lacking in the digitally printed ones. This posed various questions on our mind, which inspired us to delve deeper and explore.
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3D letters with rendering and intricate details
25 year old signs painted on metal
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We saw that the hand-painted signs had numerous styles and
were detail oriented. The colours looked fresh even after a prolonged period of time. The painters seemed to have taken liberties to create styles as they painted. They had a contemporary and experimental approach. The Gujarati signs were prevalent as compared to English. In a few sign boards, the styles of Latin type seemed to have an influence on the Gujarati type. The signs have an effective hierarchy, good composition and are not overloaded with text.
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Contemporary signboards
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Latin influence such as blackletter, serifs etc. on Gujarati Devanagari Script
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‘Why not digital?’was the first question that came to
our minds. After talking to several shopkeepers, majority stated that digital prints are flimsy, end up tearing and tend to fade overtime. Though they are convenient, cheaper and easier to produce, many shopkeepers prefer hand-painted signs for their durability and legibility. According to our observations, digitally printed signs go with the option of existing typefaces which leads to lesser variety. Issues such as bad leading, kerning, spacing, warping etc. are managed more effectively in hand-painted signs as compared to digitally printed signs.
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Hand-painted Vs Digitally printed
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A 50 year old signboard of a sweet shop still in use
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The art is dying as the community of painters is fading
over time. The only people who still paint are the ones who have been in the business for years. Newer generations do not seem to opt for this vocation as it is a painstaking process and technology has taken over the market. The shopkeepers are unable to seek these artists nowadays. Thus, the art is not as prevalent as it used to be. When the question of digital printing taking over was posed to the painters, they seemed to be content as long as they got commissions by the few shopkeepers who still abide by the old conventions.
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Our quest to seek the artists led us to Raipur Darwaja where we met Mukesh bhai and Dhiru bhai.
Mukesh Dave has painted a number of signs around the city and has been in business for 60 years. In his process, he paints the letters directly on the board with horizontal guidelines which help with the consistency of height for all the letterforms. He would climb up his ladder to paint the large sign boards which hung over the shops. Usually a reference was provided to him by the client if they had something specific in mind. This would help him replicate the style. His experience of 60 years is reflected in his strokes. He makes use of oil paints for the signs. The brushes used for the boards and cloth were separate. The hair length of the brushes used for the board was longer so as to get an even stroke. Mediums: wood boards, metal boards, cloth, tarp and walls Materials used: oil paints (boards), camel paints + fevicol (cloth/tarp), flat brushes.
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Dhirajlal Gajjar is a 75-year-old artist who has been working for 50 years. Before we could ask any questions, he opened a tiny drawer which stored all the experiences and achievements of his life. Snippets of the articles and photographs featuring him were stored carefully all these years, which included his experience meeting Indira Gandhi. Some of his achievements were recognised by the Gujarat Samachar as well. Showing us an old photograph of him painting a number plate, he mentioned how people rarely get their number plates painted today as RTO gets the job done instead. During his painting process, he would usually paint from memory in the absence of a reference image. After talking to the client, he would ‘read their minds’ and comprehend what they were looking for.
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Reflecting on our experience, we realised that hand-
painted signs have a uniqueness that cannot be replaced. We began to notice the subtleties that were often overlooked. Being Graphic Design students, we are so engrossed in technology that we seldom appreciate the analog approach. Thus, an unplanned walk in the Old City of Ahmedabad has left us with a valuable outlook towards this now rare culture of hand-painted signs. As future designers, what can we do to save this remarkable form of expression?
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