Design Rationale

The process of creating this website came from a rigorous research on the typefaces, colours and materials of Mahatma Gandhi. The whole process started while working with the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) team. The cover design for their Hindi version took me to a new rabbit hole. The colour of most of the covers swings from a deep mossy green shade to a light tinted teal green. This lead me to the printers of CWMG, Navajivan Press. The very press that was established by Mahatma Gandhi himself.

On one of my trips to the library at Vidyapith and Sabarmati I came across a book names “देशी रंगाई व छपाई” (Indian dyes and prints). This book talks about the colours that were created using natural elements and how the initial books (hardbound ones) had a jacket made of khadi and dyed in theses colours.

At the library at National Institute of Design I came across an edition of Marg where they showcased various natural dyes that were used to create the colours by Gandhiji.

A simpler exercise came from CWMG volumes itself. Our team went in search of typefaces and layouts used in the initial days of publication. This was much easier process, we scavenged trough the publication of Gandhiji, Navajivan (Journal), Young India, Indian Opinion, Pamphlets, Published books under Navajivan and Vegetarian Society.

We reached to the conclusion after working with various dye and typography experts that colours show below are the closest representation in the form of the dyes into the digital form. This required converting the dyes into CMYK in print form, and then converting them into a subsequent HEX code. The typeface side of it was a bit more easier with looking at available typefaces and finding the commonalities with the foundry available with the scans.