South Asian Typography and Understanding Design Colonization

A talk exploring how the colonial history of printing in South Asia left deep typographic and design conventions that persist in contemporary practice — and what it might mean to begin decolonising design education and practice in the region.

Central Question

When South Asian designers learned typography from European models — often literally from European textbooks and European teachers — they inherited not just techniques but value systems. What does European typography take for granted that South Asian typography cannot?

Topics

• The history of colonial printing in South Asia and its typographic legacy
• How design education in South Asia continues to centre European typographic traditions
• The erasure of local script traditions in professional design contexts
• Examples of designers working explicitly against this grain
• A framework for thinking about decolonisation in design education