You're unable to read via this Friend Link since it's expired. Learn more

Member-only story

Ray Bizarre: an alternate approach to typography

On the texture of Satyajit Ray’s graphic design

Neel Dozome
UX Collective
25 min readSep 28, 2023
A screen grab from Satyajit Ray film “Charulata”. It is a beautifully styled traditional Indian woman observing herself in a mirror while holding a wad of cash.
From Satyajit Ray’s Charulata. Described as his most “ornate” film.

Pinaki De, a graphic designer and expert on Satyajit Ray, writes of the artist’s career as a commercial illustrator (which includes thousands of sketches, logos, posters, magazine art, film credits, costume sketches and such works):

“Ray’s contribution to graphic design has always eluded proper critical attention outside Bengal, probably eclipsed by his towering presence as a filmmaker.”

Among Satyajit Ray graphic design cultists, four conceptual sketches for typefaces have come to occupy a special place: Daphnis, Holiday Script, Ray Roman and Bizarre. They were probably drawn by hand in the 1960s on commission from a Florida-based design agency. Andrew Robinson mentions in his biography of Satyajit Ray, The Inner Eye, that Ray Roman and Ray Bizarre were considered worthy of awards.

Satyajit Ray’s four conceptual sketches for typefaces: Daphnis, Holiday Script, Ray Roman and Bizarre. Ray Roman is clean and austere, Bizarre is an unconventional, highly graphic design. Daphnis and Holiday script mimic hand-written scripts.
The Ray typefaces. From: https://www.getbengal.com/details/on-his-birth-anniversary-not-the-director--but-calligrapher-satyajit-ray

For a few years, I developed an obsession with Ray Roman. Off-late, this obsession has grown to include Ray Bizarre. To me, the two typefaces make up opposing faces of the same coin. They represent something I’ve long scratched my head about concerning what I…

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Published in UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. Curated stories on UX, Visual & Product Design. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Written by Neel Dozome

I am a London (UK) based blogger interested in graphic culture and technology with a particular focus on type design and UX/GameDev.

Responses (1)

What are your thoughts?