Colourful language

Look around you. Multilingual signs do more than translate. They indicate where a business is from and how far it's come

- Tanya George

What if a signboard could tell you who belongs — and who doesn’t? In India, where most people speak more than one language, signs in multiple scripts do precisely that. One message, repeated over and over in a different script? It’s just hoping that its intended audience will understand at least one of them.

In bustling Indian marketplaces, a shop or brand sign must accomplish two goals: Inform (about shops, services, or directions) and persuade (that the goods or services are worth their attention). So, before a designer even begins to choose bright colours or stylish fonts, shopowners must make a key decision: Who's the sign for? Which communities do they want to speak to? Whom do they want to invite in? In a linguistically diverse India, everyday business rides on this.