Modified Design Sensitivity
I woke up today to shocking news: Doordarshan, India’s first TV channel, has decided to change the color of its logo to orange — the color traditionally associated with the Hindu religion. My outrage at this decision comes from a deeper place.
For my generation, who grew up only listening to the radio, the advent of black and white television in India meant a lot. Though only a few economically prosperous families could initially afford to purchase a TV then, community viewing of TV created beautiful shared memories. In every community, people got together in the evening to watch TV, which would begin with the opening sequence of an animation clip that would unveil the Doordarshan symbol designed by one of the senior students at NID — Devashis Bhattacharya, who was five years my senior at the time; the animation was designed by another student, R L Mistry, who later became a teacher at NID.
According to Mr. Ashoke Chatterjee, former executive director of NID, “The original concept, the animation and the colour were all suggestive of space and its wonder. The symbol suggests what telescopes reveal to us as the pattern of galaxies.”
In many villages of India, watching TV in the Panchayat, often sitting under a tree, became a regular ritual. The unveiling of the Doordarshan symbol with signature music, composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar with Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan, playing in the background almost became a new anthem of India’s technological and social revolution. People would clap and cheer as the tune played on the screen.
I remember in 1971 my father was elected a member of parliament. He was allotted an apartment at the Vitthalbhai Patel House on Rafi Marg in New Delhi. At that time, he could not afford to purchase a TV. I would go down to the Constitution Club every evening to watch TV. Indeed, listening to the Doordarshan tune felt like an anthem of a new revolution.
In 1975, I joined NID as a design student. For all of us, it was a matter of pride that the symbols of several institutions of national pride were designed by students and faculty of NID.
Understanding the presence of these symbols in the collective imagination of India helped us understand the subtle and profound social impact of logo and symbol design. I remember a funny phrase popular at the time at NID — “लोगो को सिम्बॉल की जरूरत होती है।” (a pun that played on the Hindi word लोगो meaning people and the English word logo).
The Doordarshan symbol was inspired by the concept of yin and yang. The very idea of balance and harmony was embodied in the Doordarshan symbol. Everything about it represented the design sensitivities we learned at NID.
For a generation that was born soon after India attained independence, various national symbols, beginning with the tricolor flag of India, represented the messages of “unity in diversity” and “harmony with prosperity”.
For my design sensitivity, even the colors of the Indian flag had a special meaning. The two colors at the end — orange (representing Hindu ethos as well as the sacrifices of Indian freedom fighters) and green (representing Muslim India as well as the greenery of India) meant we were ready to put communal conflicts of partition behind us and find a middle ground in the white color (white in color theory means the presence of all colors as opposed to black, which means the absence of any color). The Ashoka Chakra (the wheel) reminds every Indian of the term “सत्यमेव जयते” (the truth will ultimately prevail).
Waking up this morning to see the saffronization of the Doordarshan symbol was a traumatic experience for me because it felt like an affront to the spirit of harmony, balance, and inclusive progress of India. The new version lacks the design sensitivities we cultivated at NID in every way. It represents an affront to the collective memory of free India determined to transform itself through sensitivity and empathy.
I remember a story from history. Emperor Aurangzeb, who put his own father in prison, was known to hate art and music. One day, a group of artists decided to organize a funeral procession of music and art by his palace. Listening to the loud crying of the people in the procession, Aurangzeb asked his minister, “What are these noises?” The minister replied, “Sir, music and art have died in your kingdom. This is the sound of their funeral procession.”
Doordarshan’s symbol has changed its color. I wonder if Doordarshan will change its tune to “Ram Naam Satya Hai”, befitting funeral of design sensitivity.
