Book Cover Design

2011-11-30T03:16:00.000-08:00

The second URBAN SHOTS cover.

URBAN SHOTS Crossroads

2011-11-30T02:47:00.000-08:00

The latest from the GreyOak stables.

Of A Certain Age

2011-08-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

My latest cover for Penguin. Love the mellow tones and the production is real good. Check out the book in stores.

Desire named Development

2011-05-04T03:54:00.000-07:00

The Invisible Hand

2011-03-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

Once in a while i get to work on a big name, this time it is the Chief Economic Advisor of India Mr. Kaushik Basu.

His > website

The illustrations on the cover are of Karl Marx, Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill.

Earth Democracy

2011-03-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

Relevant for the times we are in

HEALING

2011-03-14T02:49:00.000-07:00

This book is manual on the subject. Solid stuff.

The Last Pretence

2011-03-14T02:45:00.000-07:00

My second Harper Collins cover. I had shot the cover image when i was in Kerala . . .

my words in print!

2011-02-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

here is the full story . . .

Himalayan Blunder

2010-07-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

I have been designing a few Military book covers lately. This is the third one.

India's China War

2010-07-07T22:55:00.000-07:00

The Longest Retreat

2010-07-07T22:52:00.000-07:00

The revised Kama Sutra

2010-07-07T11:10:00.001-07:00

A revised design as well . . .

Caring for the South Asian Soul

2010-07-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

Current Affairs 2010

2009-11-16T01:13:00.000-08:00

Some work i had finished a little while ago.

Sword of Dharma by Ashok Banker

2009-11-12T04:28:00.000-08:00

This is my first comic cover design, no actually Sarnath Banerjee was (graphic novel).
Awesome artwork inside though and it is a series design! So watch out for this on the stands.

Gods of War

2009-08-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

The artwork on the cover is a story by itself. The artist is doing some great work, go check it out.

Ashok Kumar Banker IDENTITY

2009-08-03T02:40:00.000-07:00

So the great AKB gets in touch with me and asks me to design an Identity for his company (publishing). This is my humble offering.

Ruskin Bond books

2009-08-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

Finally the Bond books are printed. They look delicious! A challenging series this, but it has worked well, so i think. Used Tommy Oshima's photographs for this.

Go Kiss the World - Subroto Bagchi

2009-08-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

I knew Bagchi loved paint, and i love type. So a painted typo cover it was!

What fun. Must do more of these. And especially these days since everyone and anyone has a digicam, photography is banal. Painting, writing, illustrating is so fresh and that's why design from gray318 is so amazing.

Sam's Story - Elmo Jayawardena

2009-08-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

This image is so powerful and fits the story beautifully.

SEVEN

2009-08-02T23:25:00.000-07:00

A B Book after quite some time. I like typo stuff.

The Edge of the World

2008-12-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

Loads of fun designing this one! One of my most 'profitable' covers.

The Killing Of An Author

2008-11-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

Did this a while ago. I am glad i got the right image for the cover.

What do you think, is the image evocative enough? I love it that this is not just any angel but one that is crying at the grave.

my latest T-shirt design

2008-01-21T20:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

i have submitted my latest t-shirt design for a competition. pls have a look and score.

thanks

Malicious Medicine

2007-10-19T03:29:00.001-07:00

My last offering before i leave Penguin to start my design studio - Inkling Design

The Better Man

2007-08-13T01:50:00.001-07:00

Here are two Anita Nair covers i did a while ago.

Beyond Black Waters

2007-07-27T02:33:00.001-07:00

Black ground with spot laminated type, couldn't ask for a better chance to use it.

Trade Gothic and Bell Sans are such lovely sans serif faces.

Nice... No? Let me know why.

C

The Great Indian Middle Class

2007-07-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

The first cover* (just front) is an option i did, but it wasn't approved. Which one do you prefer?

* Cover photograph by Nagaraj Balasubramanian

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandbombay/299602754/

Not Quite Cricket

2007-06-07T05:36:00.000-07:00

With a title so intriguing, it demanded an arresting image. So I fixed on this photograph and to my surprise the editors went for it too.

A Girl and a River

2007-06-07T05:30:00.001-07:00

The photographer didn't have high-res images, like i wanted. But his pictures were just what the book wanted. So i used whatever he had, and the result... Actually the image on top is corrupted, the bit on the left came with the image. Now what else could i have asked for... i said great! I love these unexpected 'mistakes' and often these work out best.

The Penguin book of Modern Indian Speeches

2007-06-07T02:58:00.000-07:00

Ruskin Bond

2007-06-07T02:37:00.000-07:00

This is a backlist rejacket.

Nature's Spokesman

2007-04-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

This is a cover that did not make it...(sigh).

The cover photograph is shot by M. Krishnan.

Vikram Sarabhai

2006-12-20T21:09:00.000-08:00

Did this a while ago...

The Barn Owl's Wonderous Capers

2006-12-20T20:46:00.000-08:00

This is the second graphic novel by Sarnath Banerjee. This should be out in about a week. Waiting to read it, especially after the 4 day graphic novel workshop I attended, with Christian Cailleaux and Edmond Baudoin.

Identity and Survival

2006-10-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

My initial idea was to put a powerful image of Bhindranwale on the cover. But finally settled in for a faceless cover. Works better this way.
What do you think?

Incantations

2006-10-04T22:18:00.000-07:00

Funny, poignant stories of eighties’ India

The stories in this collection are set in the early eighties, and Anjana Appachana wonderfully captures the raw, vibrant energy and optimism of a time when we drank chai for thirty paise, and twenty thousand rupees spent on ‘gifts’ for the boy’s side was an enormous amount of money for middle-class Indians.

Her characters strain for a place beyond the boundaries of a prescribed way of life in urban middle India: a hapless college student gets gated a few days before her appointment for an abortion; a disgruntled clerk philosophises gloomily about his place in the scheme of things; a young girl, against all odds, decides to keep her sister’s deep dark secret. By turns warm, gullible, arrogant and bigoted, Appachana’s characters live their lives amid contradictions and double standards, superstitions and impossible dreams, but ultimately usurp their familiar landscape and imbue it with an idiosyncratic vision.

The Right Words

2006-08-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

Third in the series of the Shama Futehally books.

Read the blurb and then read the design.

Reaching Bombay Central

2006-08-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

The fourth and final book in the series. Hhmm..the four books are done.now it's time to look at them and see how they look together.

Designing a collection is very interesting. It's a welcome break from the lone cover design and there is a better chance of using my own photographs, illustrations or ephemera. There is another series coming up, a whole 13 books!, by a well know Indian author, who writes for children as well. Am conceptualizing on them right now... Watch this space.

Satyr of the subway

2006-06-05T03:49:00.001-07:00

Am really pleased with this cover. More so because the author loved the picture right away.

Tales once told

2006-05-29T03:33:00.000-07:00

Just finished this one and sending to press... thoughts?

The Frontier

2006-05-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

This is the second book of the series. It's a collection of stories but the main story is a fictionalized account of a fire tragedy that took place in a cinema.

Tara Lane

2006-05-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

Been working on the Shama Futehally books, a series design. it's good fun to work on a series, to create an identity and a 'family'look to the covers. There are three books in all. Still waiting for approvals on these, but they are nearly through.

A vignette of this life appears in her novel, Tara Lane, where the protagonist soon learns to grapple with everyday realities of ordinary people. Corruption is another theme that is looked at in this book.

I'm Gone

2006-05-22T05:15:00.000-07:00

Mt first book cover.

Overpromise and Overdeliver

2006-04-25T23:23:00.001-07:00

One of the books covers that I design. These business book covers have a different aesthetic when compared to the literary fiction covers. B-books have bolder type, are more slick and should have no ambiguity in what the cover is trying to say.
This cover was a little tricky to figure.

Here's the US edition

...Cine Stars

2006-03-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

The political wall paintings in Chennai are rendered meticulously. They are quite a sight and very colorful, just like the politics there. I shot some photographs when I was there, am posting them.

Swamy V

2006-02-22T03:47:00.000-08:00

Just sending this cvr (the one with the front and back) to the press today. Did an option that i'd rather see printed. what do you have to say? posting both.

A history of Srilanka

2006-02-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

Have'nt read this book yet. Should get to reading it, now that i have seen the country. Enjoyed designing it. The author wanted an image with a buddhist temple in it. This book is being sold in Sri Lanka as well.

Bravely fought the Queen

2006-02-20T03:50:00.000-08:00

This is a series title. The first book is Final Solutions have a look below.

Final Solutions

2006-02-20T03:34:00.000-08:00

This is a series title. I'm trying to retain the circle form on Dattani covers, there's another title coming up but this will have an image i'm told, will still try to keep the cirle.

Goalless

2006-02-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

Getting the right image for this was'nt easy. Love the back cover image as well. Was fun working on this.

Mistress

2006-02-19T20:19:00.001-08:00

A cover i did in 2005. As an exception i'm not putting in the back cvr, i'm not pleased with it.

Partha

2005-12-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

Designed this in the first month when i joined Penguin. "It's too Avant-Garde" said one of the editors but i managed to get it past them. The author loved it.

Patiala Quartet

2005-12-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

Resolving this was tough. The sketches used were done by me during various times and not specifically for the book. I like working this way. Eager to see this in print.

Vegemite Vindaloo

2005-12-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

I just finished this today. Am quite pleased with the result, so much so i want a credit on it. The book is about this...just read the back cover, that's why it's posted. A lot of times i have seen good design and absolutely no context. I also put up the entire spread because i design the book that way, so there is a certain totality in design and not disparate. The head of sales in penguin shot the plane photographs and he is quite thrilled, and the tea photograph by Joanna Ruminska a lady from Poland, this sort of connects with the book as well.

Book of my mother

2005-12-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

Used photographs initially for this cover, but finally settled for the illustration. i am going to pick up copies of the book today.

My big apartment

2005-12-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

This design came to me late in the night while being frustrated with previous concepts. surprising what can come to you when you least expect it. Lot of people like it.

Under satan's Sun

2005-11-30T17:19:00.000-08:00

The photogaraph is mine and the design is mine maybe the content will be mine too, one day...Actually got an idea i'm fiddling with, it's secret for the moment.

The passion of Martin...

2005-11-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

The entire story actually begins with this guy finding a yellow envelop behind a painting, and so the cover...

The devil in the flesh

2005-11-30T10:22:00.000-08:00

I was reading this book in the hospital, while my wife was having a regular checkup, and i did this little doodle on the bottom of the page. This translated into the cover finally! The sketch was no more than an inch in height.

Ostinato

2005-11-29T13:50:00.000-08:00

This book is the autobiography of Louis-Rene des Forets. Very lyrical prose this, a good read. On the cover I have put selected passages from the book and the title of the book is revealed in the passages. I did not want to have the title again on the cover as you see it, but the publishing house guys said that people can't read it otherwise. The word Ostinato means obstinate/recurring.

French Book Covers

2005-11-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

The next few books will be work that I have done before Penguin. These are French books translated into English and are meant for the Indian market. These books have been re-jacketed, they have other cover designs done in France.

While designing these books I did not have a look at the French covers but went straight on and designed them and once done, went and had a look at the original covers. Quite a revelation into interpretation of text.

These French titles are amongst the best in French literature and all are award winning books. Reading them was fun, did'nt enjoy all of them though.

So without further ado…

Making News

2005-11-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

Had done many options for this cover. Real toughie. Was looking at getting a symbol for journalism here, especially women in journalism, tried many things but finally arrived at the pen, which is a recognizable symbol (The Indian Express). But am still wondering whether I could have done something else? Any suggestions?
Will try and post the options I had done.

the ART of Cinema

2005-10-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

Wrenched this book from a fellow designer and worked on it with the deadline round the corner. Enjoyed this cover. Read up on cinema in the process and watched Citizen Kane.

DD Days

2005-10-27T03:56:00.000-07:00

Am going for the launch of this book this evening after work. Eager to see the response on this one. My first book cover at Penguin.

Wine Wisdom

2005-10-27T03:06:00.000-07:00

This is a cover i did a while ago. Loved the front cover image.Hope the design compliments the simplicity of the image.

the girl cover

2005-10-27T02:05:00.000-07:00

This is my latest cover. id really like comments on this. that's why this blog. so i get to know what my reader feels when this book is picked up and the cover is seen.

looking forward to reading comments...