desicreative.com

1. Nondita Correa-Mehrotra, Architect

Nondita Correa-Mehrotra had written to the Reserve Bank of India in August 2005 suggesting a symbol for the Rupee. But she did not get any response. So when the competition was announced, it came as a pleasant surprise to her...

2. D Udaya Kumar, PhD student, IDC, IIT-Bombay

D Udaya Kumar, who is hopeful of winning the Rupee symbol design contest, says there was an underlying common element in all the five designs that were short-listed. Most of the developed countries have a symbol for their currencies and it is important for a country for India too to have a symbol for the Rupee.

3. Shahrukh J Irani, creative director, Publicis Ambience

For Shahrukh Irani designing the symbol for the Rupee was the most important project in his career. It is a great honour to have been selected as a finalist, he says. "It was a big challenge to make a symbol that transcends languages, appeal to Indians and the world. The idea was to make it simple, easy to write and at the same time have mass appeal," says Shahrukh.

4. Shibin KK, Teacher

Getting an opportunity to design a symbol for the Rupee was itself a matter of great pride for Shibin, who works as a teacher at a government higher secondary school near Thalasserry in Kerala. He believes that all the short-listed are equally good. "It was a great experience designing the symbol for the Rupee. All developed countries have a symbol for their currency. With India's fast-paced growth, it is important for us to have an identity for the Rupee," he explains.

5. Hitesh Padmashali, Creative Director, JWT

Designing the symbol took Hitesh just a few seconds! But he devoted time to do a lot of paperwork, basically the sketching out various forms of the designs. "It felt really good to be selected as a finalist from over 25,000 candidates. I just followed the guidelines and made sure the design is simple and can be written easily. The existing keyboards can type the symbol (of his design) using a unicode," says Hitesh Padmashali.