Rathna Ramanathan

From Chennai, India, Rathna Ramanathan is a graphic designer, researcher and educator known for her expertise in intercultural communication, typography and alternative publishing practices.
For the past 20 years she has run a design studio (based in Chennai and London) with a focus on research-led, intercultural, multi-platform graphic communication. Her practice evidences an interest in the research and design of marginalised content, endangered languages and practices and an expertise in the design of bilingual and intercultural communication. Projects that she has led use graphic communication as a tool to build bridges between distinct philosophies within broader themes including the historical, social, geographical, cultural and political.
A key aspect of her work is an interest in how graphic communication and typographic practice can be used to break down existing hierarchies (rich and poor, urban and rural, analogue and digital) to foster new approaches and give voice to the marginalised.