"Does the design of the letterforms suggest any reference to a particular country of region?"

Can't really read any particular regional reference.

"What personality does it contain? Calm? Angry? Sporty?"

If it has to be one of those, its more Calm than Sporty, I guess. Can't see any Anger :)

"How can I make it look more Indian?"

Indian as in?

Indian as in writing systems associated with gurmukhi script. What about devanagari script from Bangladesh?

Tom, for an Indian those are two very different things!

In fact Bengali, doesn't even use Devanagari.

Are you designing something that looks broadly Indian to a western audience, or is it for an Indian audience?

If it's the first, you might try making your forms slightly more calligraphic. Also the letters should perhaps not be so geometric and angular. A device that you can try is to knock off the vertical sroke of the 'R' which would make it resemble the consonant 'Ra' in Devanagari. I'd probably use a two-storeyed lowercase 'a' which also may add a faux devanagari quality. (And of course finally render it in Pink since they say "Pink is the Navy Blue of India ;)

On the other hand if it's being designed for Indians, you'll need to have far more focussed references than now.

Arun

Thanks very much for your help, I think you will have a lot of influence of my work right now...

Yes I know I got the Devanagari - Bangladesh connection wrong. Is it correct to say that it is similar?

I will tell you why I am so interested, I am designing a typeface to be used on the back of a football (or soccer) team here in England, West Ham United - have you heard of them?

My aim is to include references to the local Asian community:

57% Asian/British Asian
-24% Indian
38% Muslim

West Ham fans have a varied history, hooliganism and racism in the 80's are still associated with the club.

I want my type design to just give a slight nod in the direction of the local community, as a way of saying - you are part of this club. I need to do this in a way so that loyal and passionate supporters - some who are ignorant - may not even notice the hints. It is very important to retain the dedicated fan base.

I tried hard to make the forms not too inspired by Asian calligraphy, I simply adopted the stroke of the pen at an angle which was common in Devanagari typefaces and not very common in humanist latin typefaces I have looked at.

I look forward to hearing from you again with your thoughts

Thanks

Tom

"the Devanagari - Bangladesh connection wrong. Is it correct to say that it is similar?"
I think so. Both are, I believe, derived from the same source

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"West Ham United - have you heard of them?"

Not a lot. Just familiar with the name. But I just looked it upto to get the broader context. Sounds like a really interesting project.

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" I need to do this in a way so that loyal and passionate supporters - some who are ignorant - may not even notice the hints"

The cues have to be subtle enough not make it too Asian, and overt enough to be recognized. In a way you'd be betting on the Asian Brits to be subtler than the others :) Sounds very challenging. Also I'm not sure what would be Pan Brit-Asian cues.

Tom, not being a typeface designer, I'm not sure how to go about this. But if you put up something I'd be more than happy to look at it and respond/help in any possible way.

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"an angle which was common in Devanagari typefaces and not very common in humanist latin typefaces I have looked at"
Good idea. We once did an identity on just that premise. The symbol for the same client morphed an infinity symbol with the Devanagari character 'ka':

Yeh, I'm just in the process of developing some new forms and I will show you them. Whats your email address, it might make things easier.

You're right, this project is very interesting but very challenging. There are quite a few cultural and social issues to go with it, so we'll see how it goes.

Tom

"Whats your email address, it might make things easier."

Great. You can use Contact on the profile page.

I can't see any 'contact' link Sir.

Should have been there Sir, not sure why it's not showing up.

Anyway, the id is arunp@writingdesigning.com