We have two new neighbours. Yes, two house sparrows (angadi kuruvi). They have started building their nest last July under the shutter holder of a shop next door. Sad to say, the shop has stayed closed for a while now. I'll have to keep watching...
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Twitter! Twitter!!
We have two new neighbours. Yes, two house sparrows (angadi kuruvi). They have started building their nest last July under the shutter holder of a shop next door. Sad to say, the shop has stayed closed for a while now. I'll have to keep watching...
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
'Kuselan' strikes again!!
Ha ha what an innocent smile.. The strange thing is every child (parents :-/) want to dress like Krishna. This smile is the only one exception, and all the press photographers were around him.
From Ernakulam North, 1st September 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Gramophone, Order! Order!! Order!!!
Gramaphone. An apt title for the memoirs of the famous mappilappattu singer Eranjoli Moosa. The Malayalam movie goers would have had a glimpse of him in a movie strangely titled the same.In Kamal's 'Gramaphone' he starred as Louie Uncle. I found this book quite interesting and different. He talks at length about his childhood spent at Thalassery, his youth and his life spent as a singer. Did you know that he has visited foreign countries over 200 times just to sing? I found it quite admirable. When you think of the low profile such people keep and the lack of opportunities, this truly is a magnificent achievement. The book is compiled by Thaha madai. The typography of the cover is courtesy ink pen. For background image, yellow to black colour is used.
In designing the cover for Order Order Order by Hon. Minister Prof. K.V. Thomas, I used cartoons done by Sudhir Nath (www.sudheernath.com). With the help of these cartoons I have made the cover look like its a clipping from a newspaper. Somehow in Kerala, politics and newspaper go hand in hand!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Death at Intervals, Half of a yellow sun
It's quite often said that one shouldn't use garish colours(100% Cyan or 100% Magenta) for offset printing. You may feel like breaking the norm and but you might want to listen to this because unfortunately, it is right. Because if you use them, the design might look great on the monitor but the print result will be poor. If you still want to use those colours, you might have to add a bit of other colours as well, 5-20% or use some other texture. I, personally, love to use garish colours.
Now let me relate the sad result of my little experiment. Death at Intervals, a powerful book by Jose Saramago. The Malayalam title is Maranam maarunna idanerathu. I used cyan as the main colour and added a 10% yellow and 10% magenta. Yellow (C=5, M=10, Y=100, K=0) for the title and the main image. The cover looked really pretty and classy when i used black and white for the text. But horror of horrors! When the printed book came, I found a slight colour variation among the copies. I haunted every DC Bookshop in Kochi and my conclusion was finalised. Shattered!!
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. One of the gifted authors of the new millennium. Her Half of a Yellow Sun was translated by DC title Oru Manja suryante Pathi. A book I personally love.
The Indians, Rani
The Indians by Sudhir Kakar and Katharina Kakar and Rani by Jaishree Misra, DC Books' latest translations that came out in August this year.
Chora Veena Mannil, Kadha Thudarum
Chora Veena Mannil. The title speaks a million words if you are a Malayali. A new collection of Anil Panachooran's poems. The book's title takes after the famous song of the same song from the Lal Jose film Arabikatha.
Katha Thudarum. The autobiography of Malayalam cine artist KPAC Lalitha.
Books Published by DC Books
Series cover design
I find it interesting to design covers for books in a series. You have to look for a common theme and then you have to bring it on to the covers, not with words but with something else. A thread should connect all the covers and that special link can be colours, elements or typography.
DC Book of Jokes
• Jenani, Publisher: DC Books
• Behind Closed Doors, Publisher: DC Books
Wind Bell
This is the poster design for the short film 'Wind bell'.
Directed by Mr. Gautham Raveendran.
The film is about a 11 yeard girl, Ammu.
White-Red-Yellow Covers
They say not to judge a book by its cover. But I say you have to judge the book by something especially when you can’t read a thousand words in a second. I love consolidating all that is said in a book by one single picture or design.
For red-white-black/grey covers
The white-red-black/grey combination is one of my favourite. Prominently white covers become a sore sight after a while so I believe mixing them with a tinge of red and black will give an elegance they deserve.
• Inez by Carlos Fuentes, Publisher: DC Books
• The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing, Publisher: DC Books
• In the Name of Honour by Mukthar Mai, Publisher: DC Books
• Ganitha sasthrathinte vichithra lokam by Palliyara Sreedharan, Publisher: DC Books
• White Castle by Orhan Pamuk, Publisher: DC Books
• Yudhabhashanam by Arundhathi Roy, Publisher: DC Books
• The President by Migual Anges Asturias, Publisher: DC Books
• JNU vile chumar chithrangal by Shajahan Madambattu, Publisher: DC Books
• Kadammanitta Kavithakal by Kadammanitta, Publisher: DC Books
Red-Black Covers
The colour red signifies power, lust and celebration. It is the theme of the book that helps me decide whether a particular book qualifies for a red and black cover.
• Adayalangal by M.G.Sasi, Publisher: DC Books
• Ashoka Chakram by Manilal Thirumala, Publisher: DC Books
• Pulijenmam by Priyanandan, Publisher: DC Books
Yellow-Brown Covers
In my opinion, yellow is the most eye-catching colour for a book cover. And most often, people seem to prefer the yellow-brown combination over others. It’s strange, but yellow seem to stand out from all the other colours when on the cover of a book.
• Jelavivekathilekku by Ramaswami R Iyer, Publisher: DC Books
• Gonzalez & Daughter Trading Co by Maria Amparo Escandon, Publisher: DC Books
• Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho, Publisher: DC Books
• Sthree by Madhavikkutti, Publisher: DC Books
• Ekantham by Aalankode Leelakrishnan, Publisher: DC Books
• Vishadam pookkunna Marangal by Madhavikkutti, Publisher: DC Books
Blue and green give a clean, cool, refreshing look to the covers.
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