Hyderabad: Noted artist Laxman Aelay is the go-to man for logos in Telangana State. After designing the Telangana State government’s logo on the “Bangaru Telangana” theme, Mr Aelay has prepared a logo for the Telangana Police while a third one for Genco is in the offing.
“It’s my privilege to design logos for the new Telangana State. I feel extremely happy with the government accepting my designs,” Mr Aelay told this newspaper.
The 50-year old Mr Aelay, a “Telangana bidda,” is now busy preparing a logo for Telangana Genco with power as its theme.
Born in 1964 in Kadirenigudem village of Nalgonda district in Telangana, Mr Aelay, reputed for his contemporary depictions of rural Telangana imagery, began as a signboard artist and illustrator before coming to mainstream art.
Now a research scholar at the English and Foreign Languages University, Secunderabad, he completed his Masters in Painting from Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, Hyderabad, and also worked as an art director for films. He is credited with numerous shows and has been part of several art camps held in India and abroad.
But how did he get into logo designing from painting? “It was first Papa Rao, advisor to the government, who approached me and asked me to design a logo for Telangana. This was before K. Chandrasekhar Rao was sworn in as chief minister,” said the artist.
Mr Chandrasekhar Rao later asked him to design a logo with the theme “Bangaru Telangana”. “Kakatiya arch, the symbol of Telangana, and Charminar were approved. The colour combination was green for prosperity and gold for Bangaru Telangana. When I presented a few designs, this was finally selected.”
“The round official emblem of the Telangana State government represents unity, protection, wholeness and infinity in gold and green colours. It denotes the government’s outlook for continuous progress, accomplishment and positive approach for integrated development,” he added.
The Kakatiya Kalathorana (arch) and Charminar reflect the true multicultural spirit of Hyderabad. “Overall, the insignia personifies the shared vision of people of Telangana for greater progress and prosperity,” he remarked.
Impressed by the state logo, director-general of police, Anurag Sharma, contacted Mr Aelay to design a logo for the state police, which will be used as a shoulder badge on the uniforms of police officials. The logo was released on Sunday.
“This logo took a lot of time. The competition too was quite high. There were about 2,000 entries. Yet, my logo was finally selected after consultations with senior police officers and ASCI. The new police logo is part of an image building and branding exercise by the police,” he said.
“The logo has ‘Duty’, ‘Honour’ and ‘Compassion’ inscribed with the colours blue, red, gold with a black border.”
When asked whether he had been paid for the logos, the artist said, “”No...not yet. I feel it is a privilege to design the logo for the government. Money comes next. It’s an honour.”
