Being a hardcore city bus commuter, I had always felt that the Chennai city bus stands could be more presentable. It was probably the wait for the bus, and the travel put together that triggered this thought. I was also in a phase where I wanted to explore typography. I hence decided to take this up as my undergraduation project in 2013. The idea was to redesign the bus shelters in the city by making typographic compositions with landmarks of the locality in which the shelter is located, and merge them with their map layout to give it a sort of understanding, structure and flow. The five localities I finally worked on were Nungambakkam, George Town, Thyagaraya Nagar, Besant Nagar and Guindy.
Nungambakkam
Fonts used: Arial and Arial Rounded MT Bold.
Nungambakkam is best known for its commercial establishments, educational institutions, boutiques and hangout spots. It predominantly caters to the upper middle class and upper class, expatriates and tourists. The font Arial Rounded MT Bold has been used to bring out the classy feel Nungambakkam has, and also appeals to the type of people who reside there. To counterpart Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial has been used. The composition is in a structure showing the roads that connect each other. The triangles are placed where there are signals and road joints. These triangles also act as a directional aid, leading the eye through the composition.
George Town
Fonts Used: Justus, Times New Roman, Elephant
George Town is a historical area in Chennai. The British set up many establishments here during their rule in India. It's location is near the harbour and has many important railway stations as well. Due to this, it has a huge wholesale market. Georgetown is extremely crowded and also has several roads and small streets. The composition brings out the colonial feel the area still has, and the colours used resemble the multiple brick red buildings seen here. The fonts Justus, Times New Roman and Elephant are quite rigid and give the composition structure.
George Town is a historical area in Chennai. The British set up many establishments here during their rule in India. It's location is near the harbour and has many important railway stations as well. Due to this, it has a huge wholesale market. Georgetown is extremely crowded and also has several roads and small streets. The composition brings out the colonial feel the area still has, and the colours used resemble the multiple brick red buildings seen here. The fonts Justus, Times New Roman and Elephant are quite rigid and give the composition structure.
Thyagaraya Nagar(T.Nagar)
Fonts used: Leamington, Zanstroke
More commonly known as T.Nagar, this area is the hub of commerce in Chennai. Infact, T. Nagar is considered the biggest shopping district in India by revenue. The heart of this locality has a number of shops- on pavements, under flyovers, inside streets and along the main-roads and is known for its saree and jewellery stores. People who predominantly shop here are from the lower middle class and lower class. In the composition, photography has been implemented. while taking photos, I noticed the excitement among the people, mainly the children and vendors. It went to show how the people there relate to photos. The text shows how the five roads, namely South Usman road, North Usman Road, G.N Chetty Road, Thyagaraya Road and Venkatanarayana Road all meet at Panagal Park. Also mentioned are the important stores, landmarks and roads around T.Nagar. The font leamington is a serif font and was used to frame the photos around the text.
Besant Nagar
Font: Jackpot, Janice
Besant Nagar is most famous for its beach and is a popular hangout spot for youngsters. The locality has several bungalows, avenues and trees. The map shape of Besant Nagar is quite interesting and goes with the shape of the bus shelter dimension. The focus of the composition is to make it look fun. The fonts Jackpot and Janice fulfill this. The words are made flowy to cover the span of the map and post its have also been incorporated to appeal to its target audience. The colours used for the words are green, grey and brown. The brown is to show the beach area, green to show the lush cover of trees here and grey to show the roads.
GUINDY
Fonts used: Arvo, Typo Slab Serif
Guindy is known for its government head offices, educational institutions and hotels. The locality mainly caters to the working class. The place has many existing flyovers and more are in the process of construction. This profuse sight of flyovers gave rise to my concept. The fonts are slab serif fonts. The reason for using these fonts was to give the composition an office like feel. These fonts also give good shape to the flyover. The green depicts the forest cover in Guindy.
BUS SHELTER DESIGNS CONVERTED INTO MERCHANDISE
The designs were then converted into merchandise with the idea to have them sold in city merchandise stalls or Tourism of Tamil Nadu shops. A person who sees the bus stand would relate to it and pick up merchandise of the locality the want. The designs were converted into:
(i) Mugs
(ii) Coasters
(iii) T. Shirts
(iv) Mouse Pads
(v) Bumper Stickers
