Full Circle: Ahlawat Gunjan on the Wondrous World of Book Cover Design
Images courtesy: Gaurav Gupta / Ahlawat Gunjan
Head of design at Penguin Random House India Ahlawat Gunjan discusses the art of book covers, the collaboration of literature and design, of sales and inspiration, and the magic process making it all come together.
Varud Gupta’s Full Circle is a regular column that dives into the arts and crafts of India through interviews with specialists around the country, discussing everything from creations to inspirations.
Ahlawat Gunjan is the Head of Design with Penguin Random House India, and has worked on some of the most provoking book covers for authors such as Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anita Desai, Khushwant Singh, Jeet Thayil, Ruskin Bond and many more. From studying at NID to a Master’s in Glasgow and an internship in Switzerland and Faber and Faber, Ahlawat today leads a team at Penguin to bring books to life, pushing for intrigue from the very first sight.
In a chat with The Chakkar, Gunjan takes us behind the scenes to unfold the magic behind book covers. Edited excerpts:
The Chakkar: First, tell us how you got started in this journey.
Gunjan: It feels like a beautiful accident, as this was totally unplanned. I studied science in school and was working towards engineering examinations. I have been drawing and painting since my childhood. Creativity meant and means so much to me. My dad heard about National Institute of Design (NID) and that got us really excited and curious. Later, he requested them for their prospectus. But then, hearing about a school such as NID is very different than the challenge of actually making it there.
I was honored to gain admittance to NID (2002) where I studied graphic design. This tied back to that visual curiosity I had with drawing and painting, and set me upon the path of eventually choosing graphic design. I then went on to work with High Design in Pondicherry, but ultimately felt like something was amiss and wanted to move back home (Delhi). In my first job in Delhi, at Dorling Kindersley, where I first got acquainted with book design—and I have to admit that this fascination still continues. One of my freelance projects at Penguin (2007), turned to recurring work, and then I was able to become a fulltime designer at Penguin. When I decided to pursue further studies (The Glasgow School of Arts 2010) that love for creating designs for books only soared.
Photo: Gaurav Gupta
I returned back to India in 2012 and worked at Westland and DK (again), before I returned to my bird, my orange, my home: Penguin, as Head of Design this time.
The Chakkar: How does your passion for drawing and painting inform or influence your work on cover design?
Gunjan: The way I see myself as a designer, I can’t separate the two. Through my design training, I understand that design is objective and art is subjective. My current work is at an interesting intersection of the two, where I’m able to apply to use artistic lens to look at design, and vice versa, while designing some of the book covers. Both are visual studies, where fundamental theories and principles remain the same. For me, one fuels the other, whether speaking of the granularity of a brush stroke or choosing a font. Both require sensitivity, understanding, and imagination. I go through a fluid dialogue within me, touching upon excitement, frustration, fear and deadlines.
NID and The Glasgow School of Arts were fairly rigorous, and I actually didn’t get to explore the painting side of me. Once all done with my Masters and finding a job, I wanted to address my longing for painting. There was a professor, Dan Williams, who I reached out to for long-distance mentorship. He was based in London. I would create, scan the artworks and send it to him. He would then critique the work over email or phone. It wasn’t the conventional mentorship, and opened a whole new world for me, as it allowed me to develop the artistic side of myself outside of design.
The Chakkar: What is that process of design when you are working on a new book?
Gunjan: The process we follow begins with written cover briefs from the editorial. These cover briefs contain notes from the editor, a synopsis, and sales team inputs.
Once I have read the brief, there are a series of things that can happen:
“It’s a huge responsibility on a designer’s shoulders. We are giving visual shape to an author’s years of hard work; and once done, it will be there for decades and decades.”
It is clear with the visual thinking, and I jump in to get my hand dirty.
I am not clear or not able to visualise it clearly, and ask for more clarity from the editor.
I am still not clear or convinced with the cover brief and given design directions and would like to chat with the author to understand his/her perspective. Or,
I end up reading to whole manuscript and then discuss with the editors.
I would then develop three to four options that would be presented in our weekly Jackets Meeting with sales and editorial teams. In my initial years, this process was daunting to me. But over the course of time, you realise how beneficial it is to have these conversations and feedback that enable you to visually and conceptually strengthen the cover. I tend to see it as an opportunity to have arguments and agreements at home. It can be done here and salvaged before going out into the world for years!
It is then we share the selected cover option/s with the author for his/her approval.
The Chakkar: Many creative individuals tend to worry if sales and marketing teams provide them inputs on their creative process. What are your thoughts on this?
Gunjan: I consider myself truly fortunate to work with an extremely intelligent, knowledgeable, and courageous sales team. And even after certain disagreements in a few cases, they still believe and support experimental nature of design. Sales actually has considerable input, because they have a more intimate relationship from buyers and retailors. They are exposed to so many other books, they understand the pulse of the market, and can tell you up front if something is wrong. I genuinely respect that perspective. We work with a belief as a collective team and not ‘they versus us’! And I think that makes all the difference in what we bring out.
When it comes to books with international versions, we have to often adapt the front cover for local audiences that is suitable to our geography, our cultural and visual understandings. For example, we created our own cover for Jumpa Lahari’s Whereabouts, Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island or most recently, The Nutmeg’s Curse and many more.
The Chakkar: And what is your personal process when approaching a new cover?
Gunjan: Brimming amounts of excitement and nervousness all at the same time. Because if you carefully analyse it, it’s a huge responsibility on a designer’s shoulders. We are giving visual shape to an author’s years of hard work; and once done, it will be there for decades and decades.
For me, personally, a lot goes on in my head that is not tangible! From imagining characters and giving them shape, shape that is visually fresh, strong enough to hold your attention, and yet conceptually accurate to the narrative, to marrying appropriate typography to the visual. Typography and imaging are like the bones and blood for the cover for me. Both are important in equal measures. All this gives you a feeling/voice, a feeling to rely on and develop the options!
Depending upon the cover brief on my desk, the thinking process shifts every time. I can have Gulzar’s and Ramchandra Guha’s cover brief at the same time on my table, which is the beauty and challenge at the same time. With more than a decade-long experience to rely on, I still feel you grow every day with each project with each dialogue with your editor, author, or sales team.
It is a great balancing act between the voice of the book, the editorial and sales, and then also my own voice coming in, because I am a human and I believe in a certain design ethos. With a belief that design is an iterative process, I respect all the inputs. But how do I do that without losing my own voice? While I am hearing all the stakeholders, I am also managing a fine balance and filtering thoughts/ideas to offer my best to the cover!
You are growing and maturing, seeing and exposing each passing day.
The Chakkar: Certain genres tend to have traditional cover designs. Does this expectation of tradition influence your approach?
“You have to be able to detach yourself from your own work. Patience is a big thing, in terms of your own process as well as when working with others. With so much visual pollution and clutter, how you find your own voice will make or break it for you.”
Gunjan: Every designer has their comfort zone. I am most comfortable with literary fiction. I have done all sorts of books from Business to Children’s literature. But literary fiction challenges me because the interpretations of the content can be on every level. To give the narrative a visual shape, it really challenges me.
We need to appreciate no matter how objective our approach, that there might be more to design than can be studied. While an audience might never know, sometimes the outcome isn’t even a choice.
I remember one particular project, Room of the Roof, by Ruskin Bond. I had just joined Penguin, and when reading the book, I was emotionally moved. To design the cover, I wanted to meet Ruskin and spend time with him, so I traveled to Landour. I have a habit of picking flowers and putting them in my notebook. I was doing this before meeting Ruskin. We then sat together and discussed the approach and then when I returned to Delhi to scan the book art, one of those dried flowers fell and also scanned. It placed itself right on the window sill.
This was not a design choice I’d spoken to him about, but I decided to share both iterations and mailed him the art. He responded with a letter tell me that he preferred the one with the flower, because he would always keep flowers on his window sill!
The Chakkar: As the Head of Design, can you share a little more about the day-to-day schedule of your work?
Gunjan: I’m a morning person. My day starts early around 7:00 am, and I like to wrap it up by 4:00 pm. So, I use initial morning hours as ‘me-time’ for thinking and design work. I feel those hours are most creative for me, as I’m fresh and away from any lingering thoughts. Otherwise, each day varies for me, depending upon weekly schedules meetings with the design team and other stakeholders, unexpected call and online meetings (now), how much design work I have on my table, and what complexities are involved in this design work.
Then as the rest of the staff trickles in, will be quickly swept away into meetings, sorting issues, checking and approving cover proofs, looking into schedules and any urgent design issue. There are so many dimensions apart from the design, like managing budgets, managing timelines for all the covers, managing freelancers and their payments and much more. I still get intimidated by each deadline and project. It is exciting but overwhelming.
The Chakkar: How would you describe the state of the industry?
Photo Courtesy: Ahlawat Gunjan
Gunjan: We are really growing now, compared to 5-10 years back. It is an ever-evolving industry like any other, with its own set of challenges. Everyone from authors, readers, sellers, to publishers are getting more informed. With so much going on online and social media, one is able to see and hear so much. It allows you to see and experience what everyone else is doing.
Basically, sharing has become whole lot easier and accessible. For example, one can now follow designers all around and stay inspired and see what is trending in visual world. Having said that, I don’t subject myself to trends, I don’t align myself to them. For every field of art, we can all agree to theories and principles, but can never say this is the only solution.
I also believe that it is good to learn at someone else’s expense. So, paying attention to others can be helpful in learning what works—but also what doesn’t.
The Chakkar: What is your advice for those looking to book design as a career?
Gunjan: Design is an iterative process, if you have short span of patience, you shouldn’t be there. You must be courageous in heart and mind because handling critiques isn’t the easiest. You have to be able to detach yourself from your own work. Patience is a big thing, in terms of your own process as well as when working with others. With so much visual pollution and clutter, how you find your own voice will make or break it for you.
“Being a book designer, you are becoming an inseparable part of history and literature. Books allow such diverse voices to come through. From Vir Sanghvi to Amitav Ghosh, there is such variety to every human.”
The Chakkar: What do you feel is the role of books and book designers in our society?
Gunjan: Books in particular are such a tangible history in themselves. They record and document life and the times we are living. This notion really excites me, as being a book designer, you are becoming an inseparable part of history and literature. Books allow such diverse voices to come through. From Vir Sanghvi to Amitav Ghosh, there is such variety to every human. Books are conversations, they are listening to the stories of individuals—the kind of stories that I don’t think I would be able to find anywhere else.
While it’s all very thrilling to give visual personality to a book, it is also a huge responsibility on designer’s shoulders. Unlike digital design, once printed, a book will exist for decades and decades! So, one needs to doubly sure in their design considerations.
The Chakkar: And what about art itself—what do you feel is its role for you, and for society?
Gunjan: It is nothing less than oxygen to me. And I mean it! A lot of my family members and friends are in the Indian Army and Air Force and I have seen their life and professional challenges/hazards from close quadrants. So, in comparison I used to very feel small about myself, and honestly struggled with this question/debate in my head for long. But now I know, whatever it is, I can’t function without art, whether design, painting or writing. Art is my bones and blood. My bread and butter. It’s a way of life and living for me.
Art has always existed in our civilization. It has documented Harappan societies to Ajanta Caves, leaving a legacy for us to understand how humans behaved and lived. In many forms, art today is also a way to record, forecast and document for future civilizations. And for us to compare and contrast these lives, see where we have been, and where we may reach one day.
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Varud Gupta is the award-winning author of the graphic novel Chhotu: A Tale of Partition and Love (Comic Con India “Best Writer”) and the travelogue Bhagwaan Ke Pakwaan: Food of the Gods (Gourmand for “Peace”). His words also frequently appear in National Geographic Traveller and Mint Lounge. He received his bachelors in Finance from New York University. You can find him on Twitter: @Varud Gupta and Instagram: @varudgupta.
