Udaya Kumar Dharmalingamis an Indian academic and designer noted for his design of theIndian rupee sign.[1]His design was selected from among five short listed symbols.[2]According to Kumar, the design is based on theIndian tricolour.[3]
D. Udaya Kumar | |
|---|---|
 Udaya Kumar in April 2012 | |
| Born | 1978 Kallakurichi,Tamil Nadu,India |
| Alma mater |
|
| Occupation(s) | Associate professorand Head of Department of Design,IIT Guwahati |
| Known for | The designer of theIndian rupee sign(2010) |
| Notable work | Indian rupee sign |
As of December 2019,[update]he is the Head of the Department of Design atIIT Guwahati,Assam.[4]
Personal life
editKumar is the son of N. Dharmalingam, a formerDMKmember of the legislative assemblyof the state ofTamil Nadu.[5]
Academics
editKumar attended La Chatelaine Junior College inChennai.He obtained a bachelor's degree in architecture (BArch) from theSchool of Architecture and Planning(SAP) atAnna University,Chennai in 2001. Subsequently he received his master's degree, anMDesinVisual Communication,from theIndustrial Design Centre(IDC) ofIIT Bombayin 2003. He also did his doctoral studies at the IDC, receiving hisPhDin 2010.[6]
Research
edit
His areas of interest includegraphic design,typography,type designand design research with special focus onTamiltypography (the subject of his doctoral research).
He has also designed a Tamil font named "Parashakti" as a mini project at the IDC, under the guidance of Prof. G. V. Sreekumar, who is one of the few font experts in the country. During his MDes project he wrote and designed a book on Tamiltypography,which is the first attempt at bringing such a subject to a Tamil audience. In this book, Kumar also created new Tamil terminology for many typographic terms where English words were used.[7][failed verification][better source needed]
Kumar also provided guidance for the designing of the official mascot for the 49thInter IIT Sports Meet.
Kumar conceptualised the design forRupee symbol for Indian currency.The symbol is created using the Devanagari letter र 'Ra' and Roman capital letter 'R'. The letters are derived from the word Rupiah in Hindi and Rupees in English, so the symbol is meaningful to both Indians and international users. It also uses the Shirorekha, the horizontal top line which is unique to Indian Devanagari script. The two horizontal lines form an "equals" sign, which also evokes the tri-color Indian flag.[8]Ambika Soniapproved the new rupee symbol on 15 July 2010.[9]Udaya Kumar was awarded prize money of₹250,000 for his efforts.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^"Rupee gets a new symbol".Retrieved19 November2011.
- ^"Final Selection for the Symbol for Indian Rupee – List of Five Entries: Ministry of Finance, Government of India".Finmin.nic.in. Archived fromthe originalon 25 July 2010.Retrieved30 July2010.
- ^"I hit upon representative Devanagari, says winner".The Hindu.Chennai, India. 16 July 2010.
- ^"Department of Design, IIT Guwahati".Iitg.ernet.in.17 May 2011.Retrieved30 December2019.
- ^"My son has brought glory to TN".The New Indian Express.Archived fromthe originalon 9 April 2016.Retrieved29 March2016.
- ^"UdayaKumar:: Resume".idc.iitb.ac.in.Retrieved27 June2023.
- ^"D. Udaya Kumar (personal home page)".IIT Mumbai.
- ^Kumar, D. Udaya."Currency Symbol for Indian Rupee"(PDF).Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 21 August 2010.Retrieved14 November2018.
- ^Kumar, Sushil."Symbol for Indian Rupee"(PDF).Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 17 March 2015.Retrieved1 August2015.