Design a Currency Symbol for the Indian Rupee

Hi,

You are sure that this is not a fake news/ rumor, right? (Sorry, but couldn’t resist asking.. ) Also, what do you mean by ‘applicable to standard computer keyboard?’

My question exactly. What is meant by “applicable to the standard computer keyboard”. If this means that the symbol has to be already present on the keyboard, thats a severely restricting limitation. Where is the creativity in that?

like the way you put on Wikipedia!! :-)

@rahul: I assume that it means, like you have the dollar sign when you press the keys ‘Shift’ + ‘4′ = ‘$’ together.

Yeah even I did not get what they mean by “applicable to standard computer keyboard”??

If the symbol is designed using a tool then how can anyone type it?

That means users should be able to type the new currency sign for Indian Rupee using keys available in a standard keyboard. For instance, the EURO symbol is not available on all keyboards sold in India and one need to use the HTML code for typing the EURO sign. The Govt. of India clearly doesn’t want that kind of situation for the Rupee sign.

I prefer ‘R’ symbol for our currency. Its applicable to standard computer keyboard and matches with our currency.

Only writing “R” in my opinion is not upto the mark, rather there should be some kind of diplomacy in the symbol

How can we be creative if we restrict our imagination to keyboard keys? I think this is very restrictive.

Any new symbol designed has to be accommodated on keyboard and not the other way!!!!

I cant make rupee symbol using [A-Z] or something like ~!@#%^&*().

I think something has gone wrong in the notification

KISS principle has to apply here. It has to be used in daily use as well, so complex symbols will hamper the actual thinking behind the need for a Rupee symbol.

I’d still go with “Rs” or some derivative thereof rather than an abstract design. Almost like the Peseta symbol – ₧ or the French Franc symbol – (an F with a horizontal bar near the bottom).

“Interested persons may send their entries, along with a bank draft of Rs.500/ -”
From the PDF :P

I would feel Swastik symbol would be ideal for the Rupee.

Indian rupee must symnol with Backgroung Blueish “R” and Fourground with Black “I” and it must embosed in .0025mm’s

The notification says one can use ‘Indian National Script’ .
Then how come it can be applicable to standard keyboard.
I think it means one can use keyboard symbols to design the
symbol & nothing else. Like $ can be said made of S & |.
But i’m not sure.

Bank draft of Rs. 500 with entries!! LOL! Still then, many will send entries for the competition!

The final five entries to get Rs. 25K each and final Rs. 2,50,000/- Looks like Govt. will collect this amount with the entries only, huh?

Standard computer keyboard? How about this one: _|_

“The guidelines for preparing entries, other conditions and selection process are available on the website of the Ministry of Finance link ”

Errrr.. Where? :-S

New Symbol for INR Currency is Ŕ|

I can suggest good symbol which is adhering all the rules as mentioned in contest. Symbol is |~
Its simple and can be typed from keyboard. This symbol somehow represents “Fluttering and waving Flag” like Indian Flag representing glory of India.

SYMBOL: Ħ
H represents–> Hindustan—> different religious are living with I for I
= represents–> With out zero we can not image the world economy,
That zero invited by Indian. In future it will possible to forget invited thing.
Hence our symbol is must be have ZERO

R (part of Ħ ) represents–> Rupee
Like P (part of Ħ )
represents—> PAISE (our national language is hindi, hence we are call rupee by PAISE)
I represents—> India

What a joke, the Indian govt. should spend a few millions and get the symbol done and put it in front of the people to choose one or ask them to draw a few for free, instead of charging money for each entry.
I am patriotic, but have no motivation to go and take a 500 rupee DD to the finance ministry and then send in my hard work to be taken over by the govt. or just thrown in the bin if not selected.
India today or at least the media it talking of all inclusive growth but the politican’s remain in their own world especially this idiot who is wanting this symbol done. Can’t believe Chidambaram is seconding this thought though.
There are a billion people who live below the poverty line and its not that they can’t think, they have better brains than myself or even the rich in India. But they can’t get noticed because of clauses like this and money making schemes of the govt. of India. If the Indian govt. can’t help them or encourage them to show case their ideas who else will. No wonder its depression in the west and majority of Indians do not want to go back to India because of this appalling state of affairs.
Feel sorry for mother India, who can never see hope and be fair to her children.

Like rest of the comments, even I cant understand that how do I restrict my imagination to keyboard keys. Govt shud explain this and in fact Govt shud change this clause. Otherwise wats d point of designing.

Could it not be ‘U’ the first letter of the United Breweries (UB Group) of Vijay Mallaya? Our currency notes has Mahatma Gandhi, right. Since, Mr. Mallaya bought his belongings for about 9 crore. Why not give him credit for the same. The only problem is that if U is chosen, the Congress will take credit for the same. Ms. Ambika Soni would say, we designed the symbol using the services of the artist of U symbol.

Like, others it’s really surprising that how come someone will restrict his/her imagination to computer keyboards only. However, we want a bit more elaboration on this from out govt. of India. Thanks Bhawanipatna, (Orissa)

Ψ
Greek Capital Letter PSI
Character code 03A8 (Unicode-hex)
( India bound to win)
India with its raised hands, moving forward eagerly and delightfully to be no.1 in the world . (something about the stance of the letter suggests that). This also gives a suggestion of the Trisul , the symbol that shows the Hindu character & culture of the country and it also suggests that India is armed to move forward fighting and removing all blocks and slights in its path. be it terrorism, fundamentalism or snobbery . What ever it is , India cannot be disregarded by the World again. An apt symbol for the Indian Rupee in the modern scenario.

Ф
Cyrillic Capital Letter EF
Character code 0424 (Unicode-hex)

India –Stands out in the World with its unique culture and character . Two C’s symbolizing Culture and Character facing each other, holding together or uniting India into One, making it whole Symbolizing – Unity in Variety – and raising it as No.1 in the World. The apt symbol for Indian Rupee which will surely be the No.1 in the future.

ф
Cyrillic Small Letter EF
Character code 0444 (Unicode-hex)

Very much understand what they are trying to do by sticking with the standard keyboard here. But I still think that would turn out to be the wrong approach in the long run. You don’t design a national symbol based on a peripheral’s limitations.

Indian officials are really sick.. They are charging 500 bucks for this competition !!!! …

I think the better option will be to automate this process online by creating some website wherein the creative artists can directly upload their designs rather than doing tedious job of printing n sending them dd of 500…

Its a good gesture as far as government policy is concerned. Government of the people, by the people and for the people. Design dream Democratized, but as far as the “keyboard constraint” is concerned I agree with Midhun.
Design itself means freedom of thought which is in conflict with the rules of this contest.

@Thomas
PSI
Already in use: Indiana University, USA.

The symbol should be the swastika as it is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Mithraism, religions with a total of more than a billion adherents worldwide, making the swastika ubiquitous in both historical and contemporary society.

@ shri: The swastika symbol is a decent idea, but it will pose a lot of problems internationally due to its association with the Nazis during World War II. It might even get banned in many countries.

I am also surprised by the Government asking for Rs. 500/-, but apart from them wanting to make money, I can only imagine it is to ensure that only people who are serious about the design and who put a lot of thought into it will be submitting their entries. Imagine if it was free, the office of the finance ministry would be flooded by millions of letters from some people who just passed off scribbled ideas as designs.
Shame that many talented poor people who cannot afford the money won’t be able to enter the competition :(

Although it sounds like a hoax, the competition is actually endorsed by the government…

link

The same PDF ^^

I think it’s ridiculous to ask for money, but that may be their way of ensuring that the responses are kept to a more manageable number, and involves only those serious about the design.

Right now, even if they get 2,000 responses, they earn 10 lakh and then pay out just 2.5 lakh + 1 lakh (for the 4 of the final 5 who don’t win). That’s a cost that’s covered by just 700 entries! What happens to the rest of the money?

If 1 lakh people enter the contest – which is not so ridiculous a number given our population and the fact that each person is allowed 2 entries – that’s an earning of 5 crore!

Ridiculous for the government of one of the world’s fastest growing economies to actually keep the entry fee… I’d be comfortable entering the competition if I knew that all entry fees would be used for a good cause, and not to line some minister’s pocket.

IT is going to cost a bomb for Indian govt to implement this symbol in fonts and keyboard. implementation on keyboard is simple. but what about the existing Indic and Latin fonts? many be it will take years for govt to get along with it.

Its a good idea as a public completion. but MAIN PROBLEM is who will decide the right symbol? I hope I will not happen like Indian coins. Pathetic, sad design. I want to know who has approved these coins and how much he earned.

Why will anyone put a currency symbol on a keyboard even before it was designed. If dollar symbol was not $, why would you have it on the keyboard???

Why people worry about prize money.. if you assume that there is gonna be 2000 entries so they earn 10 lacs.. If no such a no. of entries, then..

Its not about prize matters here..

Its our pride.. Its the level of appreciation which is gonna make the winner the compensation..

Its about the symbol of our great INDIAN currency.

Be proud to participate whether you win or not..

Better don’t hurt the organizers for giving such an opportunity.

Notification says ‘all Resident Indians’can participate. I am an NRI working abroad. Can I compete? I have been trying to get this answer from all possible sources for last 10 days but have not been successful. Indian Embassy at Washington had no clue when I approached them in person.They did not even know that there is such a competition going on. I have sent emails to ministry of finance as well as Ministry of Oversea Indian affairs. No luck. No response. Time is running out. Why not just say in the notification that all indians including NRIs and PIOs are eligible. If anyone out there knows the answer to my question, please send me email ‘bhidesatish@hotmail.com’

Shriram

the easy part is to submit your entry through your parents or other relatives who reside in India.

Gopal
Kuwait

Gopal,
Thanks for your sugestion. There should be a website that should answer these kinds of questions. Actually they should respond to my emails clrifying this issue.It is frustrating to see that people at the top just don’t think logically or have no common sense. Why should they not allow NRIs to compete. NRI’s do actually contribute a geat deal to help the Indian economy. Any way! thanks!

Try this one – &#x262E – it is the international symbol for Peace, or the “CND” symbol.

It was Gandhi who gave the world his vision for peace in your great nation, through his experiences also righting wrongs among Africans and Europeans as well as Asians. It was King and others who brought his views into America, and have transformed how many formerly disaffected people of all social groups in the USA have felt about the role of government in solving problems. You can spice it up a bit (sorry) if you use the colors saffron and green on the top and leave white for the bottom, reflecting the colors of the flag, and let the symbol indicate the likely inevitable takeover of the world economy by India, the world’s largest democracy.

I’m in the US and won’t submit the entry, but if someone reads this and does win something, I oblige you to donate 50% of your winnings (less half the entry fee, of course), to the needy in Calcutta, or invest in their improvement through small capitalization loans, etc. Then send the rest to me or someone else, but don’t keep it!

In case the unicode symbol does not print – it is from the Wikipedia entry at this web site:

link

Interesting! How skillfully the deadline is chosen. April 10 is Good Friday, the Saturday and Sunday. So effectively one has to send it before April 9th – otherwise it is not going to reach. talking of computer key board is also interesting and amusing since entries are not allowed to be sent by email etc. (if entries are accepted by email, everyone get accountable. By post, no one really can figure out whether it really reached in time or not!) And of course, as everyone has commented – entry fee – too much to ask for. Let everyone freely send their entries.

I really do hope something good comes out of this competition, even though it might be the last-ditch attempt by the government to get some more money just in case it gets voted out in the forthcoming elections :P

Talking about ‘applicable to a standard keyboard’, I guess it means that the symbol can be introduced easily into the keyboard system (e.g. the €), and not some fancy design which is complex and illegible. It does not mean that the symbol should be an existing letter on the keyboard.

am surprised that in many blogs, people at taking it as a humour topic and coming out with instant solutions.

i had fun reading repsonses in this blog and people generally seems to have confused with design and art.. design students are taught that “design is defined as a solution to an identified problem”

in this case of designing a symbol for indian rupee, a ‘real’ designer has to constrain himself with the self thought/derived challenges even before he starts his job. a ‘designer’ has posted his concept in a flicker which amused me. he did not even think of the political party symbols of india before doing it.

some of the constraints are the following;

1. an indian currency symbol should not resemble to any existing logos or signages which are commonly used all around the world: for example if someone strikes a cross slanting to ‘R’ for rupee, there is a large chance of it looking like a NO PARKING sign.

2. it in fact should not resemble any of the numerals. for example, a person would feel ‘ra’ in devnagari script to be ideal for this symbol has gone wrong as this alphabet has a lot of resemblence to the numeral ‘2′ while writing . so there is a huge chance of even making a mistake by one more unit in the amount. i mean: 999 can become 2999. because you cant expect all the people to beautifully write the letter ‘ra’ especially for people who feel devanagri as an alien script.

3. the symbol should not resemble any religion in particular. there is a big chance of seeing a symbol as a ‘cross’ which resembles christianty. ( referring to the chaos created by some of the political parties/organisations regarding the ‘cross’ formation in the new two rupee coin. it has even been related as a deliberate attempt by sonia gandhi to spread christianity in india!!! ha ha ha :)))

4. the symbol should not resemble any of the other international currency symbols.

5. since rupee is the common name for the currencies in many of the asian countries, there is a fairly good chance that when another country decides and does a symbol, there could be some amount of similarity. so, it is better not to join the ‘gang’ of ‘ra’ rupees.. :)))

6. a symbol has also the following objective: should be able to be made by specifying another person (say, over a phone) to draw it. i mean, if i take a centre point, i should be able to give measurements to create arcs, lines, dots etc to finally form a symbol.

7. a symbol is something an illiterate, a small child or an old person be able to visually interpret and understand. which means since india is a country with numberous languages, culture and traditions, one cannot put a particular script for the symbol. for example a devnagari ‘ra’ is totally looking different to a malayalam script ‘ra’.

8. should be simplest possible: it should be finished with two strokes or curves. or three strokes to the max.

9. should be legible even when used along with text matter. which means it should be legible clearly even when it is used at 4 or 5 point size.

10. some of the solutions i have seen people making and spreading through net were very complex ones ( such as the designers from times of india, hindustan times etc). and the funny part is that all had only one concept ‘a combination of R and ‘ra’. (may be they were “working together” :)) some other solutions were resembling the aids symbol… FontShop founder Erik Spiekermann feels ‘TR” could represent indian rupee. GOD knows what has T to do with indian rupee. and in one of the interviews he seems to have got stuck with the feel that world cannot live without ‘ENGLISH ALPHABETS”. funniest part is that he got a instant solution to design …

11. it can have a maximum width of letter “M” of the English alphabets because of the technology constrains in keyboard usage.

there may be more. but atleast these are some important hurdles. i hope some good design would finally be decided by the jury.

i also feel that the final five entries should be given chance to give a presentation in front of the jury members to establish their concepts clearly. and also check with all the existing common symbolism such as alpha beta gama series. symbols of aids, traffic and weather signages etc.

many of the designers seems to have come out with solutions which was developed for ruble. (they must be really thanking invention of internet!!)

good luck to the competitors and may the ‘bestest’ win