'Don't judge a book by its cover,' they say. But books, often, are judged by their cover and can inspire you to pick a title. Here, the role of a book cover designer gets crucial who can hype up a title like none. It is a big deal, and so should be the celebration of a job well done. And that's what happened on Friday at the lawns of Delhi's India Habitat Centre as Devangana Dash won the 10th Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize for her cover design of ‘Conversations with Aurangzeb’ published by Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins and authored by Charu Nivedita, translated from Tamil by Nandini Krishnan.
"In a world inundated with visuals—where a single prompt can generate an image—the recognition of design and literary processes reaffirms the importance of dialogue, debate, rejection, and the serendipitous victories that shape creative work," Dash said. "Book covers are often judged instantly but rarely understood or engaged with," she added.
In an interview with The WEEK, Dash talks about her process, approach, and how she brought the dichotomy in Aurangzeb's character to light through her design.
Edited excerpts:
Aurangzeb has been a divisive figure, much-vilified and little understood. What was your idea while designing the cover for 'Conversations with Aurangzeb: A Novel'?
Given Aurangzeb's legacy, I knew this could be a tricky premise to crack. But what made it easy was that this is fiction, with a narrative that is slightly playful, there's a modern and contemporary take to the premise, where the protagonist is constantly talking to the spirit of Aurangzeb.
I gave him a silhouette, so many people said he could look like Shivaji, Akbar, or anybody. But the title already shouts that he is Aurangzeb, so I did not have to make that apparent. And it's his spirit the protagonist is talking to, so I eliminated all the physical features and made it minimal so that it's you only see his presence and you know who he is, and you can form your own image of him in your mind.
That made my life easier, and it was fun, which is a rare collaboration as, otherwise sometimes the publisher can be quite persistent on a particular style. Here, I started with a photographic, slightly collage approach. But to drift here was as playful as the narrative of the book.
How challenging was it to bring forth the dichotomy in Aurangzeb's character?
It was challenging, but call it the experience because my mind works like a designer, and it immediately comes up with solutions. There's conflict in the image, that's why I chose slight imagery in the optical art. I think in colours, so there is a high contrast of white and black, which brings forth the dichotomy. But you also have to think about how it would look in print, so you add colours, and make additions and subtractions.
I read the first few chapters, the language is funny and satirical. So I knew that this didn't require a very serious, side-profile image of Aurangzeb.
How about the colour scheme employed, those beyond the white and the black?
They were inspired by the jewel tones -- ruby red and emerald green -- because of royalty. However, I went with a more pastel palette, which sells better.
What is your process, do you read the book, talk to the author?
It depends. Most of the time, we don't talk to the author as the publisher makes it easier for us.
How does your approach shift depending on working with a well-known author versus somebody who is a debutant? Does the designer in you take a backseat in the former case?
It depends. But yes, when the name is big, people will be drawn to it because of the author. For example, I designed for Amitav Ghosh, so I made his name much bigger than the title. So here the hierarchy shifts. But in the case of a debutant writer, the name won't sell immediately, the image building will take some time.
But regarding the design process, it really depends on who the person is. Some authors really give creative freedom, some are so successful they have a success mantra and they want to play it safe. So it totally depends on the collaboration between the title, editor, publisher, and author.
You've designed some amazing covers. Anyone that has stayed with you?
It's a difficult question to answer. But there was a title called 'Goodbye Freddie Mercury', which has stayed special for me because I took a lot of risks with it.
But again, it depends. Sometimes, you're fond of the author. For example, I read The Music Room by Namita Devidayal in college, and years later, I redesigned its cover. So that was special.
But when it comes to the challenge, the greed to do well, it was I think 'Goodbye Freddie Mercury'.
