Hashim Padiyath

He started his professional career at C-DAC (Pune) in 1993, designing the first original digital typefaces like Indulekha, Ravivarma and Ambili which are still popular designs. His three-year stint at Malayala Manorama (Kottayam)saw him designing eight exclusive typefaces and several publications for the group. His consultancy firm Design Difference started in Kochi in 1997 and gave him wider variety in work, allowing him to work in branding, packaging, signage, multimedia and the web. Here are a few highlights of his work from the last 25 years.

Type design

He had designed over 30 typefaces in Malayalam which are still popular and used by many publishing houses, in print and electronic media. His only English type design Indus is distributed by Linotype worldwide. His typefaces had redefined Malayalam typography and are used by publications like Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Deepika, Mangalam and D C Books among others. A few of his typefaces have been licensed by Google and TeX Users Group, while Samsung and EkType had sought his expertise in Malayalam type design.

Branding & Identity

He has designed more than two hundred logos for brands from sectors as varied as pharma, hospitality, IT and education. He had developed the stationery and brand guidelines for many of these firms.

Publication design

Many newspapers and magazines have been designed by him over the years. These include Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Deepika, Mangalam, Thejas among newspapers and The Digit, Better Photography, Express Computer, Mathrubhumi Weekly and Thalir among magazines. He had also developed the Publishing Style for the many imprints for D C Books apart from designing hundreds of covers for their books.

Signage design

Pioneering signage design in the medical sector, his signage systems had made wayfinding easier in Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (Kochi), KIMS (Thiruvananthapuram), MIMS (Kozhikode) and hotels like Bharat Hotel, BTH Sarovaram (Kochi), Hillview (Munnar), Cloud 9 (Kothamangalam), Aquarius (Vaikom) among others.

Packaging design

His innovative packaging designs for Bipha Ayurveda had helped to build the brand and made its products stand out in shopping shelves. His packaging for food products, software and pharma have contributed in increasing their visibility and sales.

Promotional design

Brochures, Leaflets, Posters, Menu cards and other promotional materials designed for his clients have helped promote these clients and their businesses. His poster design titled ‘The Future is Digital’ for an international poster design competition ‘Human Aspects of Future Communications’ won Philips Award worth DM5000 in 1993.

Multimedia design

His design for D C Books’ Akhilavijnanakosam CD-ROM Encyclopedia in Malayalam in 1999 was noted for its unique graphical user interface and easy navigation in addition to its rich visual content. The product had won The Chip Multimedia award in 2000.

Website & App design

Many websites and apps were also designed by him for many of his clients to continue the uncluttered brand language. Interface screens for software applications, icons, splash screens were also done .

Product development

He had developed product lines in the region including Kerala Souvenirs under the brand name Maaya, jointly produced and marketed by Pai & Co which included paper, fabric and ceramic products celebrating the state. This got extended to 135 souvenir concepts for the state’s tourism department., a few years later. Other ranges include Wooden veneer door skins for Wood house and coir handicraft products for Coir board.