Design 10/10: Mumbai

9th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Hello and thank you for joining me on the last of my 10 city guidebook designs! 10 of 10 – Mumbai!

This is it! The end of the infamously difficult Abstract Cities exercise! I won’t lie to you and say I am not happy to see the back of this exercise! BUT! moving on to the write up of my last design!

Again, my lack of geographical skills led me to question whether Mumbai was in Africa or India… India! (*eyeroll!) so I felt it best to do the normal and to search Pinterest for inspiration and ideas!

The most popular image that appeared was The Gateway to India. It reminded me a lot of the design that I had done for Marrakech, in my head I was conscious that I had to try and make this design look different.

Again, I tried to pick out important features from the building which I could include in an abstract way on my design. I didn’t want to draw the building as it is on the cover because that would not be portraying it in an abstract light. If I picked out key features and then simplified the design I could place key elements of the building on my cover.

The colours of Mumbai are very similar to that of Marrakech, India is very rich in colour. Purple is the best colour to represent wealth, richness and luxury. On the photo of The Gateway of India that I found on Pinterest, it showed water in the background inside the gateway. I had a look on an aerial photograph of this and it showed that the gateway is almost on water. I included this on the design going through the gateway as it appears on the photo but then travelling it across the cover to take the eye on a journey across the design. The yellow block represents the warm sun but also acts as the actual door or gateway. The 2 circles in my design appear on the photograph in the doorway, they are decorative on the actual gateway. I have taken them and split them up over the design to keep the eye interested in all areas of the design. There is a lot of negative space in this design which I like. The design is not constrained to the edges and it has plenty of room to breathe. The black squares which bleed out over the right hand side edge are windows that appear in one of the arched windows on the photograph. I have used them to add contrast and to give a level of interest to the design. The blue is the dominant colour in this design with the yellow following closely behind as a subordinate. The accent colour is the rich purple. The layout is the same as the other 9 designs I have done in this series. They are all in keeping with each other, the repetition is there.

This is the final mock up of Mumbai!

Design 9/10: Montreal

9th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Welcome to guidebook design 9 of 10 – Montreal!

When I think of Montreal I think of Canada and Canadian moose’s, Mounty’s and all things stereotypical!

Brushing my naive knowledge of Canada to one side I decided to do the usual search on Pinterest to get ideas and inspiration for this one!

What appeared and grabbed my attention more than most was the Habitat 67 development. This housing complex is abstract in itself! It met the brief and it seemed like the perfect choice to feature on my cover!

In March 2012, Habitat 67 won an online Lego Architecture poll and is a candidate to be added to the list of famous buildings that inspire a special replica Lego set. Lego bricks were actually used in the initial planning. Initial models of the project were built using Lego bricks and subsequent iterations were also built with Lego bricks.

I didn’t actually do a lot of sketching for this one because I knew I just wanted it to be comprised of blocks of colour to represent Habitat 67. I knew that I could develop it as I went along in Illustrator.

I started from the bottom of the design and added a pop of green for the accent colour which represents the tree at the bottom of the complex. I then wanted to work my way from the bottom left to the top right so that the eye flows naturally ad comfortably up and across the design. I wanted negative space so kept the bottom right free for this. I created several blocks of squares and rectangles with overlapping colours to best represent Habitat 67. I think this is the most abstract design in the 10 that I have done, it works put quite nicely because this is the city in my eyes with the most abstract landscape. I used different weights in the blocks and line to create a contrast. There is repetition in my design, I tried to replicate the appearance of each apartment of Habitat 67 as they appear in reality.

This is the final mock up!

Design 8/10: Melbourne

9th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Hello and thanks for meeting me here at city guidebook number 8 of 10- Melbourne!

When you imagine Melbourne you see sun, sea and surf! I found myself getting confused between Sydney and Melbourne though! :s Again, I did a search on Pinterest for ideas and inspiration.

What I noticed was a lot of photos with Pink hue skies. Pink is a colour I know I haven’t used much in my designs so far, so I decided to use Pink and make it a dominant colour in this design. Pink is modern, confident and warm so it would make it an ideal colour for this popular city. An iconic structure in Melbourne is the Princes bridge, it appeared in a lot of the photos on my search. Melbourne is a coastal city with a lot of landscape and structures but there is also a lot of green around the city. This is something else I would include!

Similar to my design that I did for Manchester, I didn’t want to draw the bridge looking exactly like a bridge.. I wanted to leave it open to interpretation and make sure that the abstract was present with it. I took a photo of the bridge and sketched it out above using only its simplest form. The bridge uses triangles as part of the design so I used this as the main frame for it.

This is the final mock up. I feel like this design is very balanced. The design has a centre point where everything comes together and then there is a lot of negative space and room for the design to breathe. This design allows the eye to travel from the bottom left to the top right. It flows naturally ad comfortably. As I said, I wanted to use Pink as the dominant colour. It is bright and modern and confidently portrays the atmosphere of Melbourne. To break the pink up I used a cool blue, this brings contrast between the 2 colours. A pop of green was used to represent the natural environment which does appear within the city itself. This I feel fights with the blue for attention but it is definitely the attention seeking accent colour of the design. The bridge itself is built from the triangles which appear on the real thing. It is seen to appear in the distance and then come closer to finish at the forefront of the design. It is the bridge in this design which perfectly balances this design. The eye flows comfortably across the design.

Design 7/10: Marseilles

9th Jan 20219th Jan 2021Leave a comment

Welcome along to city guidebook number 7! – Marseilles or Marseille ?……..

Marseilles or Marseille was the first question that I asked myself! I pondered at the fact that there might b a typo in the Core Concepts design book because everywhere I looked online it was saying “Marseille” however there is a French and an English version! Marseilles it is!

In my head Marseilles is one of them luxuriously warm places that celebs and people likewise might go and sunbathe their perfectly tanned and toned bodies on the front of a yacht! CORRECT! 😀 but in all seriousness I pictured a lot of blue skies and blue sea, yellow sunshine and boats and yachts everywhere. As usual I started looking for ideas and inspiration on Pinterest.

A lot of blue! The other thing I noticed was the port with the church on the hill in the background. I felt I could incorporate this into my design somewhere along the way.

When I look at my design I feel a warm and happy feeling which is perfect for the weather and general feel of Marseilles. The blue represents the blue sky and sea. I have used a block of blue on the bottom left again as with all the other design guidebooks. It makes sure it is in keeping with the rest of the series but it also represents the sea. The rectangular blocks which work their way up to the top of the left hand side represent the hill and the buildings leading up to the 2 grey rectangular blocks at the top which is the church on the hill. On the right side of the design is the yacht or sailing boat with the sail mast. I have used yellow as a warm colour to contrast against the blues and greys. Blue is the dominant colour closely followed by thee subordinates which I believe to be the greys and turquoise. The accent colours in this piece which contrast against the rest of the design is the yellow and the brown of the sail mast.

You might notice the typos between the 2! My confusion with Marseille vs Marseilles! This is the final mock up for Marseilles! I am pleased with how it has turned out – It has kept the abstract brief, is open to interpretation but I think portrays what Marseilles is all about! The colours are accurate and there are contrasting accent colours thrown in there to make the design interesting. The layout is the same as the rest of the guidebooks to keep it as part of a series.