Pixels of Madras
Project Scope: Heritage Management, Illustration, Graphic Design
Pixels of Madras is a project comprising pixel illustrations of 15 underrated heritage spots of Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu in India. An idea of a pixel illustration to commemorate the 226th Anniversary of the famous College of Engineering, Guindy expanded to incorporate 15 other underrated heritage sites in the city with an aim to create awareness among the general public regarding their presence, which have stood the test of time to sustain even in this modern era.
The challenge in this project was to illustrate the chosen spots in a visually unorthodox manner, which would be universally understood and used as a powerful and compelling tool of communication mainly aimed at evoking nostalgia and making people aware about the issues of such lesser-known buildings which need to be preserved with utmost care.
Outcome
The first pixel illustration of the College of Engineering, Guindy was published on the social media handles of The Guindy Times, the official media body of Anna University. This appealed to a wide audience and especially, alumni of the institution which created a sense of collective responsibility amongst the community in order to become aware about the rich heritage their alma mater possesses.
Upon expansion, all other buildings selected for this series followed suit to generate a 15-piece series called “Pixels of Madras”. This series connected with the populace of the city, most of whom became increasingly aware about the presence of such monuments in our city and strove towards contributing to heritage management.
Overall, this series also stirred various heritage management organizations to leverage upon this series in order to accelerate their movement of preserving heritage sites by laying emphasis on the affinity people have towards the city’s heritage.
Services & Credit
Lead Designers: Sai Sudharshan Raja, Reshika RS
Project Mentor: Thirupurasundari Sevvel
Awards & Press
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Featured in The New Indian Express
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Featured in EDEX - The New Indian Express
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Featured in DT Next
Research & Planning
The first and foremost question to decide upon the style of illustration to make the 226th anniversary of College of Engineering, Guindy feel special was: What is one unorthodox method in which a building can be illustrated apart from the typical method of replicating a reference photo? When this pondering happened while playing Pokémon Fire Red, the answer immediately struck me, for it was right there in the game I was indulging myself in. The open worlds of old Pokémon games were built out of pixel graphics, and that’s exactly what served as the inspiration for the illustration style.
Parallels were also drawn to justify how apt this style was for illustrating the building at that juncture of time, since the occasion was virtually celebrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when everything became reliant on technology.
Process
Expansion of the project
Upon the suggestion of Ms. Thirupurasundari Sevvel, our mentor and a notable architect planner & conservationist on how pixels and heritage are connected, it was decided that the series could encompass 15 other heritage spots. The aforementioned parallels which were drawn to justify the selection of the art style held good here as well.
Further Process Visuals
Final Visuals
