Book covers

These are a series of book covers I conceptualized, designed and implemented for a well-renouned Indian author. I worked with the author as well as the publishing house to bring each of these concepts to life.

Wiser - Sanskrit Maxims Explained

This book is a compilation as well as an explanation of various ancient maxims, sayings and proverbs in the Sanskrit language. The book contains the original maxims in Sanskrit, an english transliteration of the text as well as a translation of the meaning of each maxim.

I was tasked with coming up with the name of the book as well as the cover design. An ascending staircase going from darkness to light seemed to be a fitting image for this book that would make the reader ‘wiser’ by the time they were through with it.

Thus Spake Krishna

This book is a thorough explanation of the Bhagvad Gita, the holy book of the Hindus, by the author who is a learned scholar in the ancient vedic Hindu texts.

The Bhagvad Gita is an extract from the Hindu epic- the Mahabharatha (known as the ‘great war’). The wisdom of the Gita is imparted to the central character of the epic by Krishna (who is said to be god in human form).

The concept for this cover was to show ‘echoing’ lines spreading in all directions emanating from the title ‘Thus Spake Krishna’. Since Krishna’s words are seen as one of the ultimate truths of life, it seemed appropriate to have His words visually reverberating outward endlessly as the cover design for this book.

The details are shown more clearly in the image below. This was created in Adobe Illustrator.

Looking Back

This book is the autobiography of Prof. V. Krishnamurthy. He is an ex-Deputy Director of BITS Pilani, india and ex-head of the Mathematics department at BITS. He is also a well known author and scholar with regards to ancient Hindu vedic texts. The book talks about his life & times and all the events that shaped him.

I was tasked with coming up with the title of the book, writing the book summary for the back and the cover design. Seeing as this book was the culmination of more than 90 years of the author’s life, I wanted to make the book look iconic. I used a profile-shot of the author and altered it in photoshop to give it a pleasant greyscale tone. I also decided that ‘Looking Back’ would be an appropriate title. The author’s image facing left would tie in nicely with the idea.

Here’s the text I wrote for the back of the book:

Precious few have lived so complete a life as to encompass so many integral parts of our identity as Indians. Fewer still have had the foresight and generosity to document this journey for future generations to learn from.

V. Krishnamurthy is such a unique soul. Hailing from South India, he absorbed the vital essences of the Vedas, Upanishads and sacred Hindu texts from his father at a very young age. This faith and spirituality was foundational in later life as he navigated raising a family, pursuing a PhD with limited means, traveling to– and working in America in the 1960’s and playing a pivotal role in the herculean task of creating a world-class educational institution for a burgeoning India as the nation started to come into its own.

For those who find this world fascinating, Krishnamurthy’s narrative will give form and color to what life was like over the last century. A veteran author, his latest work will give the reader a snapshot of his life, trials and time well spent on this earth.