Editorial Design System — Telangana Today | Mahesh Malekar
Visual storytelling at scale — infographics, typography systems, and production efficiency for a major regional newspaper.
Client
Telangana Today
Role
Design Lead
Period
2018 – 2022
Overview
Telangana Today is one of the leading English-language newspapers in South India. As Design Lead, I developed a comprehensive editorial design system — establishing visual storytelling frameworks, infographic templates, and production standards that improved both quality and output speed.
The challenge
The editorial team was producing content inconsistently — varying typographic treatments, ad-hoc infographic styles, and no shared production templates. This created visual noise, slowed production, and undermined the publication's brand authority.
My role
Led the editorial design function. Defined the visual language, built the infographic template library, established the typography system, and trained the production team on the new standards.
Process
Audit
Reviewed 6 months of published editions. Catalogued typographic inconsistencies, infographic styles, and layout patterns across news, features, and opinion sections.
Visual Language
Defined the editorial visual language — type scale, colour palette for data visualisation, grid system, and photography treatment guidelines.
Infographic System
Built a library of 40+ infographic templates covering charts, maps, timelines, and explainer formats. Each template was production-ready in InDesign.
Typography System
Established a 5-level type hierarchy for print and digital. Defined headline, standfirst, body, caption, and label styles with clear usage rules.
Training
Ran 3 training workshops with the production team. Produced a printed style guide distributed to all editorial staff.
Outcomes & impact
40+
Infographic templates built and adopted
30%
Reduction in production time per edition
5-level
Typography system applied consistently across print and digital
Deliverables
Tools
Next case study
Apollo Wellness Brand