JANET CATHERINA
Visual Hooks with
THE NAUTILUS SHELL
What made you want to
focus on design in the
independent music scene?
I've been designing for the past
21 years. And I’m a musician
too. A few years ago, I designed
an album cover for one of my
friends and received a lot of good
feedback. After that, I started
getting a lot more projects from
Chennai bands. The Chennai
music scene is still growing, so
most artists don’t know how to
work with it. It’s a very big niche
and I managed to get a hold of it.
I really want to see the growth of
the bands. The moment you take
your passion as your profession, it
will spoil your creativity. But it’s
not just about the money for me.
Tell us about your unique
Instagram feed.
Sohail Khan AKA The Nautilus
Shell is a Chennai-based artist
who has worked closely with
both local and international
musicians and bands,
including big names like Plini,
to design their album art,
posters, and merchandise.
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The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
Every time I do something, I
make sure I stand out. Everyone’s
already planning their Instagram
feed with all these different
grids, but I wanted to stand out
even after that. Every day, I get
at least one or two messages
complimenting my feed. I don't
call myself an artist, I call myself
a creative person, which means I
have to be creative in everything
I do. I also make my captions and
stories noticeable and fun. You
don't have to add commas and
full stops all the time. It’s not
necessary to be very formal to do
business. I try to be consistent on
social media as well, I consider it
my office. I can't afford to travel
to different countries, so for
me to connect with musicians,
I have to be on Instagram.
You designed the poster
and the merch for Plini’s
gig in Hyderabad. How was
that experience for you?
As a designer, the biggest target
I set for myself was to work with
Plini, my favorite musician, one
day. By God's grace, it happened
recently. The moment I put the
artwork for that gig out, people
started talking more about
the poster than the gig. The
organizers asked me to have a
merch stall at the venue. Plini
told me that no one's ever done
this in the whole history of his
music career. It was by far the
best experience of my life.
Tell us about your masterclass
tour, Don’t Sleep.
I’ve been designing for the music
scene for five years and I see
so much potential. That’s the
main reason I started this tour.
I want to find talented artists
who want to do bigger things
and push them as much as I can
as a designer. In the future, I
want to be able to hire artists
from college through campus
interviews. So to reach that
stage, I have to start somewhere
and spread awareness about
design in the music industry.
What would you like to tell
musicians about design?
Bands should start looking at
themselves as brands. Many bands
don't take their cover art seriously
because they don't know the value
of visual impression. People say,
"Don't judge a book by its cover,"
but you have to sometimes. And
there’s so much merchandise
like T-shirts, wristbands, and
sneakers that a band can sell but
bands in India don’t do this. That’s
why we’ve started to build that
culture here with STEVIE, Haiku-
Like Imagination, and two other
bands in Mumbai. I hope more
people jump on the bandwagon.