This is 10 Questions, an interview series where we get to know the designers from the directory a little better. Today, meet Aarushi Menon! Aarushi, originally from India, is a SCAD graduate and full-time designer with Random House. She previously wrote an article for us called 6 Lessons from 6 Months as a Cover Designer. Here’s her 10Q Q&A!
1. Visually take us through your professional journey. Create a diagram that summarizes your career to date.
2. When did you realize that you wanted to become a book cover designer?
Aarushi Menon: I had always been an avid reader, but I didn’t realize book design could be a career until I took my first print production class. In that class, I created what I still consider to be one of my coolest projects: a colorful, handmade, hand-bound booklet. Afterward, I started researching book design, following lots of inspiring designers on Instagram and LinkedIn (some of whom I work with today!) and mapping out my path to becoming a cover designer myself. Aside from my love of the process, I also felt really excited about being part of an industry that has had such an impact on my life, and which does so much to educate, entertain, and uplift people.
3. Do you ever go through periods where you feel completely creatively tapped out? How do you refill your cup and then get back to work?
Aarushi Menon: Kind of! I always feel least creative at the very beginning of a new project. Lots of staring at blank InDesign pages, scrolling up and down between blank InDesign pages, adding and deleting blank InDesign pages, etc.
Sometimes I just have to push through and start knocking out comps. Usually I’ll get through about ten bad ones before something somewhere in the process sparks a good idea. But if pushing through isn’t working, I’ll go back to the manuscript and just flip it open to a random page to see what inspiration I can find. What definitely doesn’t help is jumping to another project. I’m not great at multitasking, and I really need to devote a few days to fully immerse myself in a single assignment.
4. What’s your ideal auditory environment while working?
Aarushi Menon: I desperately want to be the person who can listen to hundreds of podcasts and audiobooks a year while working. But, as I said, I’m a terrible multitasker, so it’s either one song on loop (Ego Death by Polyphia is a go-to!) or complete silence.
5. Do you show your designs to any non-coworkers before submitting them—a trusted husband or teenage daughter? Who and why?
Aarushi Menon: If I want really unfiltered, honest feedback, I’ll talk to my parents or my sister, especially for genres I know they enjoy. Though I love throwing in quirky ideas for cover comps, sometimes going too far means I lose sight of the target audience. My family definitely lets me know if my designs are hitting the mark or not.
6. What’s one creative skill you wish you had time to pursue so that you could incorporate it into future designs?
Aarushi Menon: Hand-lettering, for sure.
I don’t know why, I just can’t stand seeing my own handwriting on a cover! I take all my notes digitally, so the last time I really hand-wrote anything was for my final high school exams. Maybe it’s a Pavlovian response?!
I’m slowly but surely working on it though.
7. Do you use any tools besides the usual Adobe products? What are they!
Aarushi Menon: Procreate. Ironically, most of my files are failed attempts at hand-lettering.
8. Jamie Keenan once said, “It’s not an art director’s job to make your Instagram grid look nice.” How do you balance creating a cover that has mass market appeal with creating something truly unique?
Aarushi Menon: As much as I’d love to think that a general audience can appreciate experimental design, I’ve scoured enough comment sections on cover reveal posts and design articles to realize that many readers do enjoy more expected cover directions (though maybe they’re a vocal minority, I’m not sure!). On the flip side, readers also notice—and scathingly point out—overdone trends on covers. It’s impossible to make everyone happy.
I’ve learned from my peers that getting buy-in on risky or unique covers hinges on the concept behind them. If you can effectively communicate the reason for taking an unexpected direction (tying it into the narrative, sharing some kind of competitor analysis, etc.), you may be able to sway all the various stakeholders in your favor. This approach can be more involved than just sharing comps and getting gut reactions from the team, as it may involve putting together a proper pitch deck or articulating your concepts in detailed writing. But it feels so worth it when it works out.
Of course, I’ve both succeeded and failed at pitching out-there cover ideas. Though, in my experience, the successes have consistently occurred when there was a strong concept behind the design.
9. Spread good design. Who is one (non-book-cover) graphic designer or artist that we should check out?
Aarushi Menon: Speaking of people who balance unique aesthetic sensibilities with mass market appeal, Jenna Barton (aka Dappermouth) is an incredible illustrator whose work is eerie, haunting, and beautiful. If I could have a wall of art made by only one person, it would be theirs.
10. The INABC Exit Question. You’re at a party and you just told a stranger that you’re a book cover designer. What’s the most common response you get from people when they hear this?
Aarushi Menon: “Oh my god, that’s so cool!” or “do you have to read the whole book!?”
