The Society of Typographic Aficionados has named Ramakrishna Saiteja as the recipient of the 2017 SOTA Catalyst Award. Created in 2010, the award recognizes a person 25 years of age or younger who demonstrates significant achievement and future promise in the field of typography. Ramakrishna will present his work and receive the award certificate at TypeCon2017, taking place this summer in Boston, Massachusetts.
Ramakrishna Saiteja studied Graphic Design at DJ Academy of Design in Coimbatore, India. That led to an internship at Itu Chaudhuri Design in New Delhi. While there, his interest in designing typefaces grew, prompting him to do his final project with Indian Type Foundry (ITF). While at ITF, Ramakrishna designed a few Indic scripts, including Coorg Kannada, Coorg Kannada Sans, and a Latin type design. In collaboration with ITF colleagues Jonny Pinhorn and Nikhil Ranganathan, he worked on the Telugu and Kannada extensions for the ITF typeface Akhand. Presently, Ramakrishna is working independently on another Classic Kannada type design and plans to pursue an MA in Visual Arts at Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague.
