Rolling Stone India’s Cover As Art Project
For our latest issue, we invited some of India’s leading designers, graphic artists and musicians to create their own cover
Rolling Stone India Cover As Art Project designed by Agnello Dias, Santosh Padhi and Taproot
For our fifth anniversary, we invited a cross section of well-known musicians, designers and illustrators to create their own ROLLING STONE cover. The brief was simple: Create a cover based on a subject of their liking, a cover which is worthy of both the magazine and their own creativity.Â
Wild beasts, demons, mythical and celluloid heroes, street musicians are among the subjects that feature on the art works specially created for the third edition of Rolling Stone India’s Cover As Art project. Starting today, we will feature one cover everyday to showcase what came out of this creative experiment.Â
Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi
Agnello Dias, Santosh Padhi & TaprootÂ
Agnello “Aggi” Dias (left) and Santosh “Paddy” Padhi are the founders of Taproot India. Before the duo floated this ad agency, Aggi was the Chief Creative Officer at J Walter Thompson while was executive creative director with Leo Burnett. Since then, they have created stunning ad campaigns for brands ranging from Nirma to Fox History to Nat Geo. Aggi and Paddy created the covers along with their colleagues Ajinkya Bane and Neeraj Kanitkar.
The Idea:
Forget electronic music, it’s time to rewind – to the drum circles and guitars and the didgeridoos. The design of the first cover [top] highlights the wildness of music, in both the elements used and artistic style, the whole color scheme creates a wonderful mood.
In India, nothing spells celebration like a big brass band does. The second cover [below, extreme left] celebrates the celebrators, with a funky collage of band musicians and their instruments.
Music down south is as good to hear as it is to see being played. From the harmonium players to the Thavil, the design of the third  cover [below, right] uses quirky illustrations and retro colors to highlight all things musical in the south. The line drawing has a great amount of energy to bring out the force that the music and the musician bring to the performance.
All artists have their signature tunes. But none more unique than the Indian snake charmers flute playing. Combining traditional quirk with modern quirk, the design for the fourth cover [below, second row, left] creates a pastiche of Indian culture with a fresh touch of modern contemporary design.
