ads! Podcast #009 - Ananda K. Maharjan | Graphic Designer & Type Designer | Hamro Patro

 My 20 years Graphic Design journey in Nepal. Hear my Graphic Design, Font Design and Poster design experience on ads! Podcast #009. Thank you Salil Raj Shakya for wonder conversation. #adsPodcast #2decades

How to Become Graphic Designer From Nepal? - Meet Hamro Patro Graphic Designer Ananda K Maharjan

 

Meet Ananda K. Maharjan, a highly skilled and experienced graphic designer with over 17 years of experience in the field. He is currently the creative head at Hamro Patro. He also designs posters for Nepali movies and Typo for Indian movies(typo). 

He is also the creator of several popular Nepali fonts, including Ananda Akchyar, Ananda Fanko, Ananda 1Hv, Ananda Neptouch, Ananda Namaste, Ananda yetauti, Ananda Lipi, Ananda Devanagari, Ananda ukaliorali, Anandasansar, etc. He has recently created and sold a font for Galaxy 4K Tv.

Video Includes

1. His Journey,

2. How to become a graphic designer? (Roadmap),

3. Popular software for graphic design.

4. How to create fonts?

My design yatra on Butta Blog

Check out my story on Butta Blog
Thanks Shuvechchhya Pradhan
https://medium.com/butta-stories/ananda-maharjan-is-a-well-known-personality-in-the-nepali-designing-world-23f45b12ff6d#.otobv17ix

My interview on The Tribune - "Forging identity through fonts"

Written by Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty 
Forging identity through fonts
This designer’s pioneering font designs for Nepali alphabets are not only getting popular in Nepal but in India too 
READ FULL ARTICLE:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/spectrum/society/forging-identity-through-fonts/116103.html

"Talking Typography" - My Interview on "The Kathmandu Post"

@kathmandupost
Tuesday, 22 September 2015
by Gaurav Pote
Original Post:
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2015-09-22/talking-typography.html
http://epaper.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2015-09-22/8

The Post’sGaurav Pote recently met Maharjan to discuss the artist’s projects, the work that goes into font designing, his motivations and more. Excerpts:
You design stunningly beautiful Nepali typeface. How do you do it and what keeps you motivated?
I keep experimenting with different styles of Devanagari letterforms. The process usually begins by designing each letter in Adobe Illustrator. Then I export all designs from Illustrator to FontLab Studio, which I use to generate the actual fonts. That’s the basic routine I follow. But sometimes I sketch the designs on paper and scan them. I also draw them with a tablet, using various graphic brushes, shapes and lines. Type designing has always been my hobby; so, motivation comes naturally.
What are some of the fonts that you’ve designed? Which ones do you like the most among them?
The fonts that I have designed till now are: Ananda Akchyar, Ananda Sumitra, Ananda Neptouch, Ananda Namaste, Ananda Ukaliorali, Ananda Devanagari Round, Ananda Chautari, Ananda Kinara, Ananda Ashlesha, Ananda Adhunik, Ananda Sansar, Ananda Round, Ananda 1Hv, Bauchaomaicha (the font), Pasa Rocks, Ketaketi, Hastakchyar, Mirmirey and Suskera. There are a few more. Among them, I like the thin Ananda Ashlesha the most. I’m still working on it, and it’ll be complete once I’m done refining it.
It must have taken a lot of effort and time creating them, but you’ve made them available for free. Why?
Yes, it’s a daunting task to complete a functional font, but I have time on my hands. A few large advertising agencies and publishing houses show interest in custom fonts but they rarely want to pay good money for the products. I do have a price placed on some of my fonts, thought. There are a few of my English fonts on sale online at hellofont.com.
Did you find your passion and drive for creative arts and designs as a kid?
As a kid, I was always eager to experiment with my handwriting. I practiced that whenever I got a chance. I also enjoyed sketching band logos. I loved reworking the logos used by Metallica, AC/DC, the Scorpions, the Beatles and so on. I would also rework some of the typography used in packaged products, and back in my school days, I would scribble letters, with different designs, on the blackboard. So you can say that the creative drive has been with me since my childhood.
You’re also a graphic designer with a pretty diverse work portfolio. Tell us more about professional journey.
I started my graphic designing career with Format Graphic Studio, where I designed various publication materials for NGOs and INGOs—corporate brochures, annual reports and so on—and I also worked for more than a handful of magazines. I was always on the lookout for new fonts to incorporate into my designs. I then started designing websites and coding in HTML and CSS. Currently, I work at Grafi Offshore Nepal—a Netherlands-based company that does outsourced design work. We create all kinds of designs for magazines, catalogues, advertisements, brochures, reports, web UI/UX designs and mobile app layouts. I also work as a freelance publicity- material designer for quite a few Nepali film-production houses. When I have free time, I design fonts and work on my calligraphy, sketching, photography and music.
Where do you find that inspiration for designing? Is there an artist or a designer that you follow?
I usually check out websites like Pinterest, Behance, Dribbble, Designmilk, Abduzeedo and Leibal. Some of my favourite designers are Johnson Banks, Erik Spiekermann, Wim Crouwel, Nabhan Abdullatif, Mac Funamizu, Florian Nicolle and Achyut Palav. I also like photographer Erik Almås’s works.
Do you have any plans to come up with some kind of exhibition in the future?
Yes, I do. I want to do a Devanagari typography and calligraphy exhibition in the future.
Tell us about Baucha O Maicha?
It was Bigyan Prajapati who originally created Baucha O Maicha. We talked about creating cute Newari characters, so Bigyan came up with the illustrations and I helped him with the designing. I also provided the typography, and the whole thing came together as Baucha O Maicha. We merely created it for fun, but people loved it, and that encouraged him to create Baucha O Maicha for every occasion or festival. Bigyan also visits different schools to teach kids colouring and sketching with the help of Baucha O Maicha. And we have also been creating various Newari educational materials.
What’s your take on the Nepali design industry? How has it changed now compared to in the past, and how does its future look like to you?
The scope of graphic design is widening by the day. Competent and creative designers can work in ad agencies, publications and corporate houses, outsourcing companies and magazines. They can freelance or work online as well. However, we still lack a good place to learn graphic design, typography and calligraphy. The importance of custom font in branding is yet to be realised, even by large corporate brands and newspapers, which use the same fonts in their advertisements all the time. I think it’s boring to the audience, and that’s one of the reasons that advertisements fail to stand out among the crowd.
Some words of advice for people interested in designing?
Take time to complete personal projects. Projects from clients may not always be exciting, so you should also do what you find interesting. Join online design communities like Behance or Dribbble to create and showcase your personal works. Don’t try to develop too many styles at once. Stay up-to-date with the current design trends; keep on learning and practicing. If you want, you can learn calligraphy and font designing at the workshops that we will soon be organising.

Story of an artist - Ananda Maharjan - Kathmandu Dribbble Meetup 2015

Kathmandu Dribbble Meetup 2015 #dribbbleKTM
August 22
Video by: Namaste Kathmandu
https://www.facebook.com/NamasteKathmanduu

Join me on dribbble:
https://dribbble.com/aannda

"NEPALI TYPOGRAPHY'S POSTER BOY" - Teenz NEXT magazine interview

My interview on "Teenz NEXT" magazine, Issue 48, Jan 2015
"NEPALI TYPOGRAPHY'S POSTER BOY"
Text by | Prabal Shrestha

Interview with Ananda K. Maharjan regarding #Devanagari Nepali Font Designs on M&S Channel - The Kathmandu Post - ep 17

M&S CHANNEL Ep -17 || So You Think You Are A Hipster. Better late than never...Catch the latest episode of M&S Channel with Oshima Banu, Type Design Artist Ananda Maharjan and Albatross. http://youtu.be/lYTfKufz0f0

Interview with Ananda Kumar Maharjan on "The Kathmandu Post" M&S Movers & Shakers, May 09, 2014

My video interview regarding  Nepali font Designs on M&S Channel - The Kathmandu Post - Ep - 17

http://youtu.be/lYTfKufz0f0

Interview with Ananda Kumar Maharjan on "The Kathmandu Post" M&S Movers & Shakers, May 09, 2014
Text: Binit Bana

My interview published on ECS Nepal Magazine, January 2014 issue

"So unlike Buffalos" 

Text by: Bijaya Adhikari
Ananda K. Maharjan is probably the only Nepali professional type design artist creating Devanagari fonts for day-to-day use. How is that culturally relevant? Read to know more.
(Click the images to enlarge)

on ECS Nepal Magazine, January 2014 issue, page 30-31
http://ecs.com.np/art/so-unlike-buffalos

My interview on Republica Daily, Nepal about "Graphic Design as Career in Nepal"

click to enlarge

Sketch your career  

by SACHI MULMI
KATHMANDU, Dec 30

Another such profession in need of eye for minute details and creativity is graphic designing. Ananda Maharjan, a graphic designer, has designed many film posters in the last couple of years. He started designing the posters for films first when he won poster design competition for the film ‘Chhadke.’ Since then, he claims that he’s been very busy with the job. He also designed posters for films like ‘Manjari’, ‘Saanghuro’, ‘Nepathya’ and is working on upcoming films like ‘Jholey’, ‘Raghav’, ‘Tulke’, ‘Aawaran’ and ‘Junge’.

He says that his work has a lot of scope, but comes with its own baggage. “There is only one graphic designing college in Nepal, Wigan & Leigh College Nepal, and it is very expensive. Hence, self learning and practice is a must.” Although hard work and effort is always rewarded, he says that it’s the person’s ability to cope up with the challenges that he finds very helpful.

“Different clients want different things; they have their own project and ideas that we designers have to accommodate. The design trend is changing; now we have clean flat design trends worldwide, but the same design trend won’t work in our context. Designers should keep updates about the latest graphic tools. In Nepal, designers are still using outdated software, they resist change.

“On top of that, the load shedding starts a different story of struggle. We have to be careful about people using our designs without giving any credits, too,” he concurs. On a positive note, he adds that designing has a lot of scope in publishing houses, advertising, web designs, film industry, online outsourcing, freelancing, etc.

FULL article on Republica:http://myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=67129

http://e.myrepublica.com/component/flippingbook/book/1463-republica-31-dec-2013/1-republica.html

My interview published on Republica Daily - "A bold f(r)ont face"

published on 08 January, 2013, page 13
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=47885

Photo and texts from: http://www.myrepublica.com

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, Jan 7: Ananda Maharjan, 29, plays with shapes, strokes and brushes to create different Nepali font faces of his own. Working professionally as a graphic designer for the past 11 years, Maharjan says that he has designed all sorts of things, from logos to publications, for various organizations. But it’s typography that he’s more inclined to and hence he makes fonts for himself. He’s currently working at Grafi Offshore Nepal.

Maharjan’s work can be viewed at nepalifonts.blogspot.com. He has about 15-16 published fonts, including Ananda 1 HV, his first font, and Ananda Sumitra. Here he shares with us some experiences as a graphic and type designer. 



How did you enter the field of graphic designing?
I had brothers who were already working in this field. So I learnt from them and continued with this field as my profession. I actually am a Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS) graduate. But I’ve also done Intermediate in Fine Arts from Lalitkala Fine Art Campus.

What about type designing? How did you start?
Type designing is my passion. I was bored with the same and overused Nepali fonts and so I wanted to create something new on my own. I make fonts during my free time. I browse through literature to pick out nice words and play with them through typography. Nowadays, I prefer minimalistic and clean designs.

According to you, what’s an important quality that all graphic designers should have?
As graphic designers, people should be willing to learn. The habit of researching and thinking differently is very important. I see so many Nepali designers still using outdated software. They don’t try to upgrade, which isn’t good. We also have to learn to move along with time.

What’s your opinion on the designing field in Nepal?
Most Nepali designers, I think, overlook the importance of choosing a good font face. If you look at advertisements, they are done using the same fonts everywhere. Typography is the most important aspect of designing, and having a distinct font type is crucial when it comes to branding and advertisement. Also, like I mentioned before, designers in Nepal need to be constantly up to date with the developments in this field.

Besides your office work, what other forms of designing are you involved with?
I’ve designed a couple of film posters for films such as Saanghuro and Chhadke.

Portrait of an artist - Interview with Ananda Maharjan, Type Designer from Nepal

Portrait of an artist - Ananda Maharjan from Shashank Shrestha on Vimeo.

Fonts - The graphical equivalent of handwriting. Font choice can make or break your design and each font-face is its own work of art. Ananda Maharjan is one of the few Nepali Designers working on producing new fonts in Nepali and most importantly sharing his creations with the world for no charge at all.
we sit down with him to discuss his views and labor of love.

(The first in a series of Profile videos I am doing with Rishi Amatya and Suyog Shrestha.)

Shot with Canon 7D and 50D.
Edited on Adobe Premiere Pro CS6/After Effects CS6
Direction/Editing : Shashank Shrestha/Rishi Amatya

More videos by: Shashank Shrestha:

https://vimeo.com/shashankji

Download Nepali fonts zip bundle by Ananda: 

http://lalitkala.deviantart.com/art/Ananda-Nepali-Fonts-Collection-309919915

Join Ananda's fb page for recent updates:

https://www.facebook.com/nepalifonts

www.behance.net/aannda