Foundation logo

The Foundation didn't have a logo at all for quite some time. It was only last year that we started thinking about a logo that represents our thoughts and objectives of the foundation. Instead of approaching a professional graphic designer, we decided to crack it one day while we were in our office in Bangalore. In twenty minutes flat, the scrap book was full of sketches, and we decided to go for the one that we are using now. The idea was to show case the relation of the river with the local language (Malayalam). Considered to be the father of Malayalam literature and author of Ramayanam in Malayalam, Thunjathu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan was born on the banks of the river in Tirur.

Many classics came from those writers who were born and brought up here. Many of us literally grew up on classics written by MT Vasudevan Nair and O.V Vijayan. Some of the other luminaries were G Sankara Kurup, Vyloppilli, P Kunhiraman Nair, Olappamanna, Edassery, Balamani Amma and master of sketches "Artist Namboodiri". We decided to show the connection of the river with the language by using calligraphy in Malayalam.

Then we wanted to show case the present status of the river as well as how we dream about it. So we thought of using the three letters to represent the river as if these were islands with no connection to the river it used to be. Without supported by the rich tributaries, our river is no longer showing any sign of a full fledged water source. By extending the river with waves in a single line, we thought this could be our dream. The river that flows as one source which basically came together from its rich tributaries.

By adding a small thoni(country boat) to it, the logo became more lively. For a river that weaves together traditions, culture and people, we couldn't think about any image better than our "thoni".The way we spread the lines and did the calligraphy, it reminded us of the romance that the river was always to us.

Couple of days later, when Anita saw my scrap book in office, she said,"Very simple and full of stories. Like our "puzha" and "thoni", Alley?" ("Isn't it" in Malayalam)

She added the last bit of orange colour to our thoni and it became our logo!

Bangalore © GP 2007