Minnaminni Cover illustration

Children's Magazine Cover Design

Illustration & Cover Design

Avasanathe Photo

Avasanathe Photo-- Collection of Unpublished works of Ravi Varma

Publisher: Mathrubhumi Books

Buy Books at:

http://buy.mathrubhumi.com/books/mathrubhumi/translation/bookdetails/1171/avasanathe-photo 

Sreemad Bhagavatha Sapthaham

Sreemad Bhagavatha Sapthaham by T S Parameswaran Moothathu

Gadyasamgraham

Publisher: Mathrubhumi Books

Kidappara Samaram

Kidappara Samaram by PV Shajikumar(He is my colleague ;-))

Publisher: Mathrubhumi Books

Cover Design

Daivathinte Sontham by Bindu Krishnan

Collection of poems

Publisher Mathrubhumi Books

Cover Designs

Cheruthunilppinte Deshangal by Balachandran

Purushanariyatha sthreemukhangal by Khadeeja Mumtaz

Orkkanundu kure ormakal by Dr. K. Rajasekharan Nair

Publisher Mathrubhumi Books

Cover Designs for Enrich your English & Mathrubhasha Malayalam

The book version of Mathrubhasha Malayalam and Enrich Your English the educational columns published in Mathrubhumi weekly , were released on Friday. Minister PK Abdu Rab released the book by giving copies to Dr D Benchamin. Akbar Kakkatil presided. <more>
I have used 'hot' colours for designing these covers (except for the last cover)

These are the logos for both series. Two 'മ's are used for designing മാതൃഭാഷ മലയാളം. The 'മ' design ;-)

മാതൃഭൂമി ആഴ്ചപ്പതിപ്പ് കഥകള്‍

2011 ല്‍ മാതൃഭൂമി ആഴ്ചപ്പതിപ്പില്‍ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ച കഥകളുടെ സമാഹാരത്തിനുവേണ്ടി
ചെയ്ത കവര്‍ .  കേരളത്തിലെ പ്രമുഖ കഥാകൃത്തുകളുടെ  കഥകള്‍

പൂച്ചിമാ/സുസ്‌മേഷ് ചന്ത്രോത്ത്
പാരിജാതപ്പൂമരം/അശോകന്‍
റെഡ്‌ക്രോസ്/പ്രമോദ് രാമന്‍
ഭാഗ്യവശാല്‍/രവി
മീന്‍ ഒരു ഭീഷണിക്കഥ!/കെ.പി. രാമനുണ്ണി
കവചിതം/സോക്രട്ടീസ് കെ. വാലത്ത്
രത്‌നാകരന്റെ ഭാര്യ/ചന്ദ്രമതി
ചെന്നായ അടക്ക്/വി. മുസഫര്‍ അഹമ്മദ്
സൈഡ് കര്‍ട്ടന്‍/ടി.പി. വേണുഗോപാലന്‍
വേസ്റ്റ്/മനോജ് ജാതവേദര്
പഴയൊരു പ്രേമകഥ/പി.എസ്. റഫീഖ്
ചുടലമാടന്‍/ശ്രീകുമാരി രാമചന്ദ്രന്‍
മണ്‍കുടവും മഹാകാശവും/എന്‍.പി. ഹാഫിസ് മുഹമ്മദ
്കാഞ്ചിപുരം/സി.എസ്. ചന്ദ്രിക
മനുഷ്യന്‍ എന്ന വൈറസ്/അര്‍ഷാദ് ബത്തേരി
ചാവേറ്/ശ്രീകണ്ഠന്‍ കരിക്കകം
ഇടുക്കി ഗോള്‍ഡ്/സന്തോഷ് ഏച്ചിക്കാനം
പുലിപ്പാല്‍/കെ.ജെ. വിനയന്‍
അയല്‍പക്കങ്ങള്‍ വേവുന്ന മണം/മധുപാല്‍
മാലാഖക്കാവല്‍/ബി. മുരളി
ലോക്കോ പൈലറ്റ്/ഇന്ദുചൂഡന്‍ കിഴക്കേടം
ബ്ലഡ് ഹൗസ്/പി. സുരേന്ദ്രന്‍
ഇന്ദ്രിയനഗരം/എബ്രഹാം മാത്യു
രാജശലഭം/വി.ആര്‍. സുധീഷ്
ചീഞ്ഞ ജമന്തിപ്പൂക്കളുടെ ഗന്ധം/ടി.എന്‍. പ്രകാശ്
മദ്യശാല/സക്കറിയ
പെസഹ/ധന്യാരാജ്
പനിക്കിടക്ക/തോമസ് ജോസഫ്
2011ലെ ആണ്‍കുട്ടി/അക്ബര്‍ കക്കട്ടില്‍
പ്രതിഭാഗം/കെ.വി. അനൂപ്
വിഷ്ണു/ആനന്ദ്
മാന്ത്രികവാല്‍/എസ്. ഹരീഷ്
ലാഹോര്‍ 1928/പി.ജെ.ജെ. ആന്റണി
മരണക്കിണര്‍ എന്നൊരു ഉപമ/വി. ജയദേവ്‌

Swarnakkambili

Cover design for Swarnakkambili by Sippi Pallippuram

New Edition, Mathrubhumi Books

Done with Photoshop

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!

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

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.