Shreya Gupta

Blog Updated May 2024

@shreyaguptadesign / shreyaillustrations.com

Pronouns: She/her

Where are you from?: India

Identity: Indian

Languages: Hindi and English

Current Position / Role: Senior Designer, Tor Publishing Group (an imprint at Macmillan)

How did you get into design? After I graduated, I met Rodrigo Corral, the creative director at FSG, for a portfolio review which led to working at his design studio. Working with him, I discovered that I loved working on book covers and with type as well. So after working there, I found my way into book publishing to work as a book cover designer.

Favorite book or current read and why? I am currently reading Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, one of my favorite authors.

Tell us a surprising fact about you? I was an IT engineer in India for 4 years. And I decided to quit my job just a month before coming to the United States to attend Illustration as Visual Essay program at School of Visual Arts, NY.

What did you learn about publishing that you wish you knew before? I don’t know about other publishing houses, but Hachette has a Mentorship program, through which one can learn any skill from anyone within the company. 

So even though I work for a non fiction imprint, I have created some self initiated projects for children books through this program and have learnt a lot about children book industry from my mentor.

How do you over come a creative block? To be honest I rarely have one. But if I ever do, taking a break and relaxing is helpful. And then trying to look at the problem from a different perspective to solve it. Even though nothing might come up at the beginning and some solutions may not be right. Those wrong steps, I believe, are needed to arrive at the solution I am happy with.