My Entry for India Currency Symbol Competition

This is the proposed design of the symbol to represent Indian Rupee.

Explanation of the Design

The Symbol consists of three geometrical entities: A Curve, a thick straight vertical line intersected at the lower middle half by a thinner horizontal line.

The Curve represents the geometrical hybrid of letter R & S, extended to each other (as depicted in the following figure). While the Straight line gives the symbol structure and a solid supporting foundation. It also represents Unity. And finally the horizontal line denotes stability.




Reasons for choosing this symbol

a) In its entirety the symbol represents ‘Agriculture’ which is the predominant occupation in India, accounting for about 60% of employment. It also stands as a tribute to the success story of the Green Revolution of India, which helped the country to emerge from a famine ridden country to become self-sufficient in food grains.









If we look at the symbol used in many 1 rupee coins that represents agriculture and its resemblance with our symbol, we can see how this symbol is present in and has been a part of Indian Currency.



b) Not only the symbol is a part of Indian Currency from earlier times but can also be read as Indian Rupees (as shown below in the Image).

Features

There are a number of features which make this symbol stand out and easily qualify for having the most compelling reasons for making it the symbol of INR. Here are a few of them:

Simplicity

One of the most important features of the symbol of currency should be its simplicity. It must be easily usable by the people both in hand written form and computer depiction.

This symbol is fairly simple in shape. Hence it can be easily written and used by the average population. As can be seen below:










Uniqueness:

The symbol of a currency should be unique and must stand out. This symbol is unique and stands out in a group of other Nation’s Currency symbols. Have a look:






Elegance:

The symbol must look distinct and elegant when written before numbers and values. It looks elegant when written as a currency sign before figures.

Symmetry:

Beauty lies in symmetry. It’s vertically symmetric in shape. It does look the same when flipped from the middle.

Independence from the letter R:

As some countries (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius and Seychelles) also use Rupee as their currency and Also countries like Russia and South Africa who have ‘R’ as a prime letter in their currency name (in Ruble and Rand) and in future may introduce their currency symbols designed around letter ‘R’, as shown below this symbol will help Indian Rupee to stand out from other countries currency symbol.








At the same time there is also a strong relation between the symbol, the English letter ‘R’ and the Hindi letter ‘ra’ . Despite looking quite different, All the symbols are a combination of same geometrical entities- a curve and two straight lines as the following figure shows how one can be transformed into the other and vice versa.











Resemblance to Ashok Stambh, the National symbol of India:

It resembles the National Symbol of India where the three segments coming out of the base line represent the three lions of the National Symbol.

Resemblance to Lotus, the National flower of India:

In the following image we can see how both ‘Ashoka Stambh’ the National symbol of India and ‘Lotus’ the National flower of India are present in the five rupee coins.

Unity in diversity:

This symbol shows Unity in Diversity by its branches up in the air representing diversity of India in its culture, religion, caste, climate, people, tradition and values tied together by a well grounded single root.

Positivism:

This looks like a new born plant which signifies Freshness, Growth, and the Green Revolution of India. India is one of the youngest countries today and more than 50% population is below the age of 25 years. It’s growing and moving up in every domain. The Indian currency should represent this state of the country and so does this symbol.

Balance:

It resembles a balance scale which show India’s balanced attitude towards modern and tradition values. It also shows India’s equal treatment policy towards things like Gender, Religion, and Caste etc.

Success, Victory, Enthusiasm and Happiness:

The upward extended two arms of the symbol denote victory and upbeat attitude of a growing and vibrant India.














Peace and Freedom

Be it Gautam Budhha or Mahatama Gandhi or Jawahar Lal Nehru, India has always stood for peace and harmony in the world. This symbol restates India’s stand of spreading peace and prosperity around the world.

Spirituality and Worship

Spirituality and ancient wisdom have always drawn people from all over the world to India. Arts like Yoga and Ayurveda have played an important role in the evolution and existence of culture, tradition and spirituality in India. This symbol reaffirms the position of India.


Source of light in darkness












The symbol stands for optimism and positive outbound energy. As the lamp (diya) illuminates the path of darkness and evil, similarly this symbol ignites the minds and leads to brightness from darkness.

Global Leadership

This symbol symbolizes India’s intent and mission of becoming a Global power. As is depicted in the following image, our country is ready to carry the world in its hands and direct its course.
















Keyboard Applicability

It’s a keyboard friendly symbol and has been designed specifically taking the typography principles and the technicalities of getting a symbol onto the keyboard into consideration. Like all keyboard characters it has a simple and solid geometry that easily be rendered graphically for any font and any size.

Also the fact that this symbol bears a close resemblance to the Greek character Ψ (Psi) further supports its consideration. Since the Greek character Ψ (Psi) is already present in the standard keyboard’s encoding scheme there should not be any technical difficulties associated with the keyboard applicability of this symbol as well.

Salient points of this Symbol

1) Involves both the letters R and S into a single, unique and symmetric symbol.

Since the letter R is a prime letter in countries like Russia (Ruble) and South Africa (Rand) currency’s name. So in order to make a distinction the symbol should ideally involve both the letters R and S and at the same time should be simple in design in order to be used and recognized easily and widely across the world.


2) One-to-one correspondence between the currency name and the currency symbol

Not only it shows the abbreviation Rs. For ‘Rupees’ symbolically but also is a symbol that has been associated with the Indian currency. So both the things are achieved here.

Unlike other country’s currency symbols like US Dollar ($) where there is no one-to-one correspondence between currency name ‘Dollar’ and the associated currency symbol ‘$’. And the same is true for Pound Sterling (£) as well.


3) Its resemblance with character Ψ (Psi) which is already present in the standard keyboard’s encoding scheme.

Another distinctive advantage with this symbol is its resemblance with the character Ψ (Psi). So the keyboard representation of the symbol can be the very similar Greek alphabet Ψ (Psi) which is already present in the Standard keyboard encoding scheme with the Character code 03A8 (Unicode-hex).

We all know that how difficult it is to get a symbol on the keyboard. One of the most recent symbols to make the leap, the € for euro, had a long and difficult birth. So why not use a symbol that is already there in the encoding scheme. By no means have I intended to say that we should go for any random symbol just because of the technical difficulties associated with getting a symbol on the keyboard. But when one can associate so many things with such a symbol which is already present on the keyboard, then it would not be a bad idea to consider this possibility.

4) Compatibility with both Hindi and English.
If observed carefully one can see that all the letter in the Hindi word “रुपया” seen in this symbol.










In the same way all the letter in the word “Rupees” can be seen in this symbol making it a currency symbol that can be recognized and related with locally as well as globally.

Interesting Observations

The symbol can also be seen as letter ‘I’ super imposed on letter ‘U’ and can be read as ‘India United’ or ‘United India’.















The next image shows another unique combination of letters U, I and D (inverted) emphasizing the very central message ‘Unity in Diversity’.
















Also the trio of R, S and I in the below image can also be read as the ‘Rising Sun of India’, which can very well be true if India becomes an Economic Super Power.
















Another very interesting observation we can make in this symbol is I (Mai) and yoU (Tum) when combined becomes We (Hum). As they say in famous Hindi lines: -

“Mile sur mera tumhara to sur bane hamara”.







2) This symbol has a dual nature. It can be seen as a Symbol of construction as Flower, Plant and Wheat crops which represent Prosperity, India’s mantra for growth in future. And it can also be seen as a Symbol of destruction as a Trident which shows India’s stand against negative forces like Terrorism.