Do you know who created the classic Doordarshan logo?
Many '80s and '90s kids will remember watching Doordarshan's logo montage with the channel's signature tune playing in the background on the TV. Though many don't tune into DD anymore, its soon-to-be retired logo is one of the first things most Indians associate with the channel. The powerful, yet minimalist logo was created by Devashis Bhattacharyya in 1976. Let's know more about him!
A former student of National Institute of Design
In the early 1970s, National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, was tasked with designing a logo for Doordarshan, which was a subset of All India Radio. Of the 14 designs submitted, the then-PM Indira Gandhi picked the logo created by Devashis Bhattacharyya, a graphic design student at NID. His simple design had an eye and two curves around it representing "yin and yang."
How was the final logo created?
After Bhattacharyya's design got selected, he worked with noted Indian designers- Benoy Sarkar (Indian Airlines' logo creator) and his teacher Vikas Satwalekar (Operation Flood's logo designer). Another NID student, RL Mistry, did the animation work for the symbol. Mistry made copies of Bhattacharyya's sketches and shot them on camera while rotating them till it formed what is popularly called 'the DD eye'.
Doordarshan was available only in seven cities till 1975
Doordarshan existed since 1959; it got an independent brand identity after separating from AIR in 1976. On 1 April 1976, the DD logo first appeared on TV accompanied by the channel's trademark tune composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan. Doordarshan had grabbed many eyeballs with the dynamic logo back then in an analog world.
The hidden meaning behind the DD logo
Vikas Satwalekar says the logo was never meant to be only 'the eye' as it doesn't make much sense. He said the eye, the curves, and the space between them represent receiving and transmitting information. Bhattacharyya said he wanted the symbol to be something simple that depicts the wide varieties of cultures in India without having the "idiosyncrasies of meaning".
Devashis Bhattacharyya on designing the Doordarshan symbol
Devashis Bhattacharyya said: "The logo was designed around the concept of harmony. To see something in totality, you need a balance of principles, a balance of masculine and feminine, of yin and yang."
Should the DD logo remain or go?
Doordarshan recently invited public entries for designing a new logo for the channel. It says the over four-decade-old logo doesn't connect the Doordarshan brand to the younger generation as it did with the earlier generation. People across the country are hotly debating whether the DD logo, which woke up millions of Indians every morning until over a decade ago, should be replaced or not.
