Akshaya Zachariah is an independent illustrator and graphic designer based out of Bangalore, India. She is passionate about the environment and enjoys visual storytelling, travelling, birding, and exploring various coffee beans. She works as a consultant designer for organisations like Wildlife Conservation Trust, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and Mercatus Center.

We spoke to her about her work on MY INDIA, MY GODS.

How did you approach this project?

Sahana Ahmed, the editor, had reached out to me on seeing my work with Fifty Two, an online indie magazine that published true stories about India. My illustration style is quite versatile, and one of them stood out for her, to incorporate in the book and to accompany each story

What is your favourite type of design work?

I enjoy making icons and infographs for posters! Clean vectors and a cohesive design library of icons are what I enjoy working on for a client.

What is your favourite design tech?

The Adobe suite has been the best investment as a designer. I use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign—and Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush for some of my videos and illustration work.

How do you adapt to new styles or techniques?

I would say it’s been an innate quality that I’ve been able to adapt to new styles quite easily. While growing up, I was told that I needed to have a unique style, and while I really tried to stick with it, I realised I also have a voice through my work. My style may not necessarily need to be the same, but what matters is the voice and my tone. I changed my approach to my work by being more versatile artistically but being very rooted in my core values—empathy, joy, and gratitude.

A design book you would like to recommend.

DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN by Betty Edwards. A brilliant book on enhancing one’s creativity that has been updated multiple times over the years. Having also studied psychology, this book brings into play our cognitive abilities, observation skills, and unlearning to draw. This book taught me that, in fact, anybody can draw! It is all in the brain, and we need to tap into the right resources to express our thoughts visually.

What is your greatest career accomplishment?

Working on building an illustrated repository that accompanied well-written stories about India, for two years alongside some prolific writers, producers, researchers, and photographers in the country. The website is fiftytwo.in.