AT A GLANCE
Devangana Dash
Area of Practice:
OVERVIEW
Devangana Dash is a design educator, bookmaker and art director. She is currently facilitating courses in Visual Communication Design at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. For almost a decade, she has been designing books with leading publishing houses globally and mostly found hoarding books for her dream library. Her book designs have been acclaimed by various publishing awards, including her award-winning picture book ‘The Jungle Radio: Birdsongs of India’ (Penguin Random House India, 2019). Her art and stories are rooted in narratives, community, education, ecology, childhood and our inner world. She can be connected at devanganadash.com.
EDUCATION
M.A. Design in Education, Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore (2024) Professional Diploma, Visual Communication Design, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore (2015) B.A. (Hons.) Sociology, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi (2010)
WORK EXPERIENCE
- Faculty, Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore (Sept 2021-present)
- Senior Designer, Penguin Random House India (2015-2021)
- Independent Art Director and Book Designer
- Consultant, Freelance Designer and guest art director with global publishing houses
- Author-illustrator, The Jungle Radio: Birdsongs of India (Penguin Random House, 2019)
INTEREST AREAS
Visual narratives, reflective practice, children’s picture books, expressive arts, contextual storytelling, embodied knowledge, design education, narrative practices
CURRENT PRACTICE AT SRISHTI
Facilitated studios and workshops around illustration and visual narratives, visual design thinking, context based storytelling, and inquiry based making. As an educator her pedagogic practice and art practice are intrinsically linked. Her interest lies in intersection between art, illustration and design, and courses are designed to bridge the learner-industry gap, and build a reflective art and design practice. She is interested in emerging contexts, mediums and approaches for illustration, brings in her research interests and emphasizes the importance of diverse perspectives in her classroom. Courses facilitated: Illustration for Communication, Children’s Book Illustration, Bookmaking and Book Arts, Visual Storytelling, Visual Tools, Mentor Lab, Professional Practice, Contextual Inquiry
TEACHING PORTFOLIO
CREATIVE PRACTICE & OUTREACH
As a bookmaker with a decade long experience in publishing, Devangana conducts workshops and talks on art of book cover design, art-direction and illustration for various centres, literature festivals, schools and bookstores across the country. Devangana has been a speaker and a jury member for various literature festivals and publishing awards across the country, and been interviewed for several national newspapers and magazines. Her book designs have been awarded by South Asia Book Award (South Asia National Outreach Consortium), Comic-Con India and Publishing Next Industry Awards (2019-20).
Through her illustration practice, she explores themes of presence-absence, community, and identity, and loves drawing outside the lines.
Select clients: Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Audible by Amazon, Bloomsbury, Hachette Book Group, Pan Macmillan, Pratham Books, WWF
