Subcontinental Helsinki, Deconstructing the typography of subcontinental restaurants in Helsinki, Finland

Abstract

While choosing a typeface is often considered a decision that only concerns graphic designers, the ripple effect of these choices is more significant than we realise. The decisions that are made go on to define how the communities for whom we are designing are represented in the city’s landscape. Often disregarded, ethnic typography is a fixture in the landscape commonly used by immigrant-run businesses. This research examines the concept of ethnic typography and how letterforms communicate cultural meaning in the context of subcontinental restaurants in Helsinki, Finland.

This thesis uses an intertwined approach combining theory, documentation, and artistic experiments. The theoretical discussion introduces the movement away from Eurocentric typographic practices. It traces the history of ethnic typography and lays the foundation for understanding the visual strategies employed to design ethnic typography. The research further investigates how the visual strategies are rooted in cultural stereotypesand how the image of the letterform is used to perpetuate stereotypes. The significance of everyday aesthetics and their impact on forming our worldview is emphasised, and a less biased view of ethnic typography is proposed.

The photo-documentation establishes the context of subcontinental restaurants in Helsinki and, through analysis, the use of ethnic typography within the context successfully identified. Thereafter, the artistic components of this thesis reflect on the theoretical and analytical findings. The visual experiments consist of a series of serigraphy prints on napkins, a publication cataloguing the documentation of fifteen subcontinental restaurants in Helsinki and a set of risograph prints that come together in the form of an exhibition. By bringing everyday objects and sites into a white cube gallery setting, the exhibition brings attention to a subject that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.

By combining theoretical, analytical, and artistic components, this research contributes to the discourse on ethnic typography from the perspectives of both an observer and a designer. As a result, an insightful understanding that looks at ethnic typography without preconceived notions and cultural bias is established.