Libi - Bilingual Typeface

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Libi is an experimental type containing hybrid character sets merging Tamil and English.

Year 2020

Discipline Typography, Research

Team

Libish Murugesan

Unlike other existing bilingual typefaces with similar glyphs and use the approach of Louis Émile Javal (1902), this type involves the two unrelated glyphs, Brahmi and Roman, which are very distinctive.

Case: Aravrit, Liron Lavi (2012)

Variations in vowel sign

Vowel sounds

While blending, distinctive features of each letter are retained in both languages, and selective compromises are made during the process. Maintaining the readability with a minimal incision to the original character set was critical on this designed typeface.

According to section 15 (1),(2) and (3) of the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishment Rules, 1948, the name board of every establishment should be in Tamil and wherever other languages are also used, the version in English shall be in the second place, followed by the versions in other languages, if any.

Extract from, The Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishment Rules (1948).

The blending of two scripts through Libi enables global modernization in the overflowing regionalism on marketing, advertising, user interface graphics, and vice-versa. Thus, allowing the choice of language without ignoring it.

Character structure VS Sound structure

The uniqueness of the Tamil language is that the sound structure and the character structure are the same. It is significantly different in the case of the language English. This particular aspect becomes the primary factor in designing the type.

Work in the progress. Updated on 30th January 2023.

Javal L. (1878).“Essai sur la physiologie de la lecture” Annales d'Oculistique.

Government of Tamil Nadu (1948). The Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Rules.

Kanthimathi, K. (2009). "Tamil-English Mixed Language Used in Tamilnadu". The International Journal of Language Society and Culture (27): 48–53.
Lavi, L. (2012). ARAVRIT. Retrieved from https://www.lironlavi.com/2012/08/06/aravrit/

Kavati, Ilaiah & Kumar, G & Kesagani, Sarika & Rao, K. (2017). Signboard Text Translator: A Guide to Tourist. International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE). 7. 2496.

Davis, Christina. (2020). Trilingual Blunders: Signboards, Social Media, and Transnational Sri Lankan Tamil Publics. Signs and Society. 8. 93-124.