Zines for Ektype
Project done as part of pre graduation internship with Ektype, under the guidance of Sarang Kulkarni, Mrunmayee Ghaisas, Omkar Bhoir, Tathagat Biswas
YEAR
2024
CLIENT
Ektype
This six-week internship with Ektype involved documenting local Telugu type around the National Institute of Design, developing functional specimen products from Ektype’s existing fonts, and gaining foundational skills in lettering and layout design.
SCOPE
Field Research
Graphic Design
Layout Design
Project Brief
The project brief was to explore the application of Ektype’s typefaces across various visual mediums. I chose a physical route with zines and posters, as they allowed the type to exist in a more tangible, collectible form—positioning them as potential official merchandise. For this, I worked with HONK, an open-source variable colour font by Ek Type.
HONK weights & styles
Honk is built as a modular system with ten unique styles, incorporating shadows and colour palettes. The variety within the typeface gave me plenty of scope to experiment and explore different visual directions.
Source: Ektype
As an initial exploration, I created a series of posters that played with patterns and color overlays to understand the possibilities of Honk’s modular styles in a physical medium.
What are zines?
Zines are small, handmade booklets people create to share their ideas, art, or stories.
They’re simple, personal, and fun!
More importantly, why zines for this project?
I picked zines as the medium because they’re small, experimental, and full of personality—just like Honk.
Each page became its own playground to show off a different side of the typeface, letting Honk do the talking without me spelling it out.
Different zine formats
8 page zine format
16 page zine format
Pants folding format
ZINE 1 [16 page]
A do-it-yourself zine
This zine is a DIY project with all the letters of the alphabet and numbers, but the letters are hollow, so you can fill them in however you want—
color them, add patterns, whatever feels
right. It makes the zine feel more personal and lets everyone make it their own.
Your Honk
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Desi, new, fresh HONK
ZINE 2 [16 page]
The zine is designed on an A3 sheet, with content packed on both sides. When folded, it transforms into a compact A7 size.
A limited color palette is used to maintain cohesion, while varied layouts across the pages keep the reading experience engaging and dynamic.
ZINE 3 [Pants fold]
HONK HONK HONK
The zine is again designed on an A3 sheet, with content printed on both sides.
When folded, it reduces to a compact A7 size. The format follows a continuous 360-degree fold, allowing the content to unfold sequentially and creating an engaging, immersive reading experience.
ZINE 4 [8 page]
Zine cum Poster
This zine follows a four-fold structure, opening into eight pages that can be fully unfolded to reveal a poster.
The content is carefully curated to introduce the typeface and showcase its versatility.
Playing around with cover art
Project completed under the guidance and support of
