Tamil Type Trails № 04 // Year in Review 2024

A Journey Through Typography, Art and Innovation

The passing 2024 has stored many memories within me.

Through new things, new people, new experiences, and new creations, I have preserved the passing year.

Preserving time is the ultimate purpose of existence.

I was able to save as time both the excitement and thrill that new things bring.

Journeys will continue. Paths may seem to end. New paths will emerge and expand. Everything will happen.

Even searching for answers to questions like whether to continue the journey or spread roots where we are becomes part of the journey's nature.

Journeys and creation become the flames that forge one's identity.

In the passing year of 2024, my experiences expanded greatly both in the physical and virtual worlds.

To preserve the time of 2024, I made creation and journey my companions. They opened up vast spaces of opportunity for me.

I look back at what I created last year. Month by month. Experience by experience. I reminisce about some important events.

January 2024: I started the year saying "Deem Goodness." I created and shared Tamil letter form mandala calligraphy in various ways. I chose the word "Tamil" to make ambigram-style lettering possible in Tamil. I created many new things and was thrilled.

February 2024: Accepting the invitation of Mr. Muthu Nedumaran and Mr. Sundar Ganesan, I conducted a Tamil calligraphy workshop for highly interested students at the Roja Muthiah Research Library in Chennai, India. I shared my experiences about Anatomy of Tamil letterforms and my Tamil typography journey as a talk at that event. Those experiences still remain fresh in my mind.

March 2024: I created a Python program to understand how Tamil consonants and their derivatives are used in Thirukkural, Aathichudi, and Puthiya Aathichudi. I was surprised to find similar frequency patterns of specific letters in the selected sources. Additionally, I began creating a new Display-style Tamil font and released its preview. I created Tamil letters in another new way inspired by Arabic script style and immersed myself in joy.

April 2024: I created works in Uncial script and Kufic style for both Tamil and English. I attempted to use some different techniques in calligraphy. I was delighted to try creating Tamil letters inspired by the Art Nouveau movement.

In April, I also immersed myself in another beautiful creation. Using artificial intelligence, I created and shared Tamil songs. They captivated many people. My lullaby "Seppa Kadale" created for my daughter particularly captivated me as well.

May 2024: I created and shared Bharathiyar's face using his quote "Perithinum Perithu Kel." The Kufic style creations continued.

June 2024: It had been ten years since my Neythal font was released and 8 years since Pavanam font was released. I got the opportunity to create the title for the documentary film "Oddamavadi" through director Amaan Ashraf.

July 2024: I got the opportunity to watch the first screening of the documentary "Oddamavadi." It stirred deep emotions. My Aaram font had completed ten years since its creation. I newly practiced creating calligraphy on Canvas. I created and gifted a large canvas calligraphy piece saying "This is a Temple of Love" for my close friend's new house and was delighted.

August 2024: I created and shared a series of small videos introducing artificial intelligence. I was very happy that the series captivated many people.

September 2024: I was overjoyed that my Kavivanar font was included and distributed with Apple's new MacOS Sequoia and iPhone's iOS 18. Thinking about my font being included by default in billions of Apple phones and millions of computers worldwide, I thought all glory belongs to God alone.

At the same time, I created a new handwriting-style Tamil font and released its preview version. I haven't named it yet, but I've been creating and releasing designs using it. I was happy that this new font captivated many people. I plan to release it in 2025.

October 2024: I was delighted that my Tamil calligraphy was displayed in a new dimension at A.R. Rahman sir's concert in Sydney, Australia.

November 2024: I had the opportunity to speak at the Sri Lanka Design Festival about my typography journey experiences along with the concept of how to become world-class in something. Many people met me after the event and shared how the talk captivated them. I felt great joy in my heart. Many prominent typographers shared their experiences there. Meeting them was a beautiful and blissful experience.

December 2024: I experimentally tried drawing letters with chalk on paper. Immersing in new things brings great joy.

Beyond this, from the beginning of 2024, I continuously wrote and published new posts. I got to share thousands of meaningful words strung together. This gave depth to my writing. They also beautifully carried meanings.

I created arrays of Tamil letter forms and shared them with the world. Unexpected introductions, opportunities, media interviews, and more captivated me.

I shared my typography journey and calligraphy methods through small videos. I feel satisfied that I was live on Instagram answering questions from thousands of people.

Many experiences strengthened my belief that when effort and practice combine, opportunities come in sequence.

Though there was clarity about goals, I incorporated mechanisms to achieve them into my daily actions rather than just sharing them as posts.

Google Calendar became a key tool in organizing my daily activities. Everything started from there. Even the beginning of this post started there.

Above all, throughout the passing 2024, I had the opportunity to learn many new things daily. This arose from a desire to explore and understand.

"All glory to God alone! Keep flowing like a river."

I'm waiting to fill 2025 with action.

Creation is not a noun. It's a verb.

Best regards,
Tharique Azeez

What Do You Think? What are the things you’re going to do to make the 2025 a great one? Hit reply and share your ideas! I will read all your replies.

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