The brief

Create a series of 10 abstract designs in which you balance blocks of subordinate, dominant and accent colours.  The designs are for A5 guidebook covers.  Include the city’s name and be mindful of the typography placement and colour.  Explore your DTP packages further by creating the artwork in different software packages.

Approaching the brief

First, I will research each city by especially looking at its culture and traditions.  I will then brainstorm and put together a spider diagram that I will use to choose the colours, typography, and size and positioning of typography.

Abstract cities 

Madrid, Spain

Madrid is the central capital city of Spain.  The country’s most popular city and political, economic, and cultural centre.  Madrid is known for its elegant boulevards and expansive, manicured parks like the Buen Retiro.  (Google Travel, 2023)

The city is renowned for its rich repositories of European art, including the Prado Museum’s work by Goya, Velázquez, El Greco, Rubens, and Bosh.  The heart of old Habsburgs Madrid is the Plaza Mayor.  Historically it’s been a meeting place used for civil announcements and celebrations.  The Royal Palace of Madrid, known as the “Palacio de Oriente”, is the Spanish Royal Family’s official residence. (Civitatis, 2023)

The Community of Madrid is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain.

Real Madrid is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.

Bullfighting is part of Spain’s cultural heritage, entrenched in Spanish history, and provides a prevalent identity ground in the country.  (Spain Traveller, 2023)

Madrid is the capital of flamenco, a style of Spanish music played predominantly on the guitar and accompanied by singing and dancing.    With the rise of cafés during the 19^th century, flamenco enjoyed its finest hour in the capital. (Madrid, 2023)

I have chosen the colour palette from the flag, flamenco – and bullfighter costumes.  The main keyword for this design is “expressive”, which made me go bold with the colours and the typeface.  Looking at my moodboard, I can see many flowing lines in the painting of Goya, the bullfighting costumes and the flamenco dancing.  I have decided to incorporate these lines into the design.

Once I had my thumbnail sketches and a pretty good idea of what I want to achieve, I opened figure 3, sketch 10, in Adobe Illustrator.  I had to stretch and tweak the form to fit the required format, and the lettering was done with a grid backing and the pen tool.  I also used the blob brush for the line details.

Malmö, Sweden

Malmö is a coastal city in southern Sweden.  It lies at the eastern end of the striking Öresund Bridge, a long road and railway bridge – tunnel running to Copenhagen, Denmark.  Lilla Torg is a cobblestone square in the city centre with cafes, half-timbered houses and shops selling local handicrafts.  Malmö Castle, a 16^th-century fortress built by King Christian III of Denmark, houses nature, history and art exhibits. (Google Travel, 2023)

Malmö is a seaside city with old-world charm and ultra-modern cosmopolitan flair.  Malmö is in the far south of Sweden and the most eclectic city in Scandinavia.  The city is pushing the boundaries of Swedish design. Amid all this urbanity, you will find several oases with ornamental plants, an orchard garden, a rose garden, a Japanese garden, and edible crops. (Visit Sweden, 2023)

I have chosen the colour palette for Malmö according to the words; seaside (blue), Cosmopolitan/eclectic/modern (orange), Old world (brown), and gardens (khaki green).  The city has a solid Swedish design influence, so I will use Helvetica as the typeface and Paul Rand as an influence for the abstract shapes. 

I used the shape of the Turning Torso in Malmö as an inspiration for the design and refined it by blending and then overlaying a 30% black and blue for the side “panels” to fall more to the background.  I then added more structure by cutting the shapes into individual shapes and loosely arranging them.  The colours needed to be fresher as this is a seaside city and the browns weigh it down.  I changed the colours and created a Swiss flair by breaking the typography into two pieces.  Adobe Illustrator is the ideal software for this design.  I can use the pen or shape tool to build this design with crisp, clean edges.

Managua, Nicaragua

Managua, on the south shore of Lake Managua, is the capital city of Nicaragua.  Its cathedral, a shell since a 1972 earthquake, is on the Plaza of the Revolution.  Nearby is the tomb of Sandinista leader Carlos Fonseca.  The 1935 National Palace of Culture houses the National Museum.  Hilltop Parque Histórico Nacional Loma de Tiscapa is known for its crater lake and huge statue of revolutionary Augusto Sandino. (Google Travel, 2023)

The Trees of Life are a public art installation in Managua, Nicaragua.  It began in 2013 to honour the 34^thanniversary of the Sandinista Revolution.  The Trees of Life are a city beautification project of First Lady Rosario Murillo, who has also served as Nicaragua’s Vice President since 2017. (Wikipedia, 2023)

I am using the trees of life to inspire this design for Managua, and the colour palette that comes to mind is bright pastel colours.  I will draw thumbnails and observe what comes to mind while looking at my moodboard. 

I have tried a few compositions to incorporate the trees of life, and simplifying the shape was vital to avoid having the background too busy and competing with the typography.  The typography of No.6 (figure 12) is not clear enough, and No. 8 is just too plain for a city with so much character.  I like the brush script of nine.  It’s warm and charming but still clear to read.  The background of No. 9 lost the “tree of life” feel, so I will go with the background of No. 5 and the typography of No. 9.  I will keep to a smaller colour palette similar to No. 5 and do this design in Procreate.

Procreate works well but doesn’t have a pen tool.  The artwork also doesn’t keep its resolution when you size it as Photoshop does.  You cannot work off the canvas as Procreate crops off anything outside the canvas.  Your layers are limited in Procreate compared to Photoshop and Illustrator, which can handle very big files.  Procreate is a lovely program to work in, and the convenience of working anywhere is a definite plus.  I changed the typography to Gastromond.  A heavier, fat letter complements the tree of life better than the script typography, which is too similar to the shapes of the tree.  Gastromond contrasts well, but its rounder shapes blend with the design.

Manchester, England

Manchester is a city in Greater Manchester, England, with a rich industrial heritage.  The Castlefield conservation area’s 18^th-century canal system recalls the city’s days as a textile powerhouse, and visitors can trace this history at the interactive Museum of Science & Industry.  (Google Travel, 2023)

The National Football Museum has more than 140 000 football-related items, plus a kids’ discovery zone & skills-testing simulators. (Google Travel, 2023)

I am going to focus on the words Industrial and Soccer.  I will use industrial shapes to inspire the design.  Red-orange is an energetic colour for this design, and black signifies strength.  Brown is a good colour to soften the black slightly and also bring the industrial side of Manchester into the picture. 

I am happy with the layout and colour of No. 5 (figure 16) and will create this design in Photoshop using a paper-cut look that gives the design more dimension and texture.  This look also ties in with the industrial and artistic side of Manchester.

The typography is Rockwell.  I went for a slab serif to be cohesive with the intense colours of the design but also reflect the traditional roots of Manchester.  The conventional font contrasts with the modern shapes of the design.

Manhattan, New York

Songs were written about the Manhattan Skyline.  “Manhattan Skyline”, a song by Norwegian band A-Ha was released in February 1987.  Little did we know how the Manhattan skyline would change after 11 September 2001.

The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11 were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant Islamist extremist network al-Qaeda against the United States on 11 September 2001.  The first impact was that of American Airlines Flight 11.  It crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 am.  Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03, the World Trade Center’s South tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. (Wikipedia, 2023)

I am using the Manhattan skyline, photographed over the Hudson River, to inspire Manhattan’s guidebook cover.  Manhattan, New York, is a vibrant and loud city that “never sleeps”, as Frank Sinatra sings.  It’s also the city of the rich, with high-end shops, beautiful apartment buildings and trending fashions. New Yorkers have their own way of making and eating pizza, and just like in the movies, you see people holding a large paper cup of coffee and rushing somewhere important. 

The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33km) elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City.  The High Line’s design is a collaboration between James Corner, Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Piet Oudolf. (Wikipedia, 2023)

As seen in the thumbnails (figure 21), I have included the greenery that is so prevalent around Manhattan.  I think the colour palette needs more greys to signify all the concrete in Manhattan.  I prefer the composition of No. 3 and will use it in my final design.  No. 3 has a better contrast between the shapes, and the composition creates a better hierarchy for the word “Manhattan”.

I have done this design in Adobe Illustrator and then exported the file as an SVG file into my cutting software called Cricut Design Space.  I cut the shapes with my cutting machine, pasted them all together, and scanned them into Photoshop, where I enhanced the colours and added the lettering.  The font is Didot.  Didot, with its classic fine slab serif and the high line contrast, makes it bold enough for a display font but light enough to float above the buildings. 

Marrakech, Morocco

Marrakesh, a former imperial city in western Morocco, is a major economic centre and home to mosques, palaces, and gardens.  The medina is a densely packed, walled medieval city dating to the Berber Empire, with mazelike alleys where thriving souks (marketplaces) sell traditional textiles, pottery and jewellery.  A symbol of the city, visible for miles, is the Moorish minaret of the 12^th-century Koutoubia Mosque. (Google Travel, 2023)

I am using Moroccan tile designs to inspire the Marrakech’s design.  My colour palette consists of terracotta and blue-green (often used in Moroccan tiles and also used in the Koutoubia Mosque.  I will also use a deep Royal Blue and gold.  The word that stands out the most for Marrakech is Imperial.  The city shows a lot of evidence of former imperial influence.

I am creating the design in Adobe Illustrator, the ideal software for creating shapes with clean and crisp lines.  The typography is Museo Sans Rounded 700.  I have chosen this sans serif because for its simplicity and contrast with the background’s intricate design.  The rounder shapes of the typography pair well with the artwork’s circular design. 

Marseilles, France

Marseilles, a port city in southern France, has been a crossroads of immigration and trade since its founding by the Greeks in 600 B.C.  The Vieux-Port (Old Port) is at the heart, where fishmongers sell their catch along the boat-line quay.  Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde is a Romanesque-Byzantine church.  Modern landmarks include Le Corbusier’s influential Cité Radieuse complex and Zaha Hadid’s CMA CGM Tower. (Google Travel, 2023)

The following words that come to mind when I research Marseilles are Port, Crossroad, Trade and Fishmongers.  I am going to focus on fishmongers and trade for this design.  The colour palette has blues to convey the sea and yellow to carry “Marseille’s long, hot summers, mild winters and lots of sunshine.” (France Today, 2014)  I included terracotta to set the mood of the terracotta-coloured roofs of the town, but I will see if the design lends itself to so many colours. 

I am happy with thumbnail No. 5 (figure 30), but I want to change the colours slightly.  The dark blue background translates a nighttime feel and too many cool colours for such a warm city.  I will use Photoshop for this design because I want to add textures, and a raster image will work well.  I am using Roboto as the typeface to blend in with the smoother surfaces.

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne is the coastal capital of the southeastern Australian state of Victoria.  The modern Federation Square development is at the city’s centre, with plazas, bars, and restaurants by the Yarra River.  In the Southbank area, the Melbourne Arts Precinct is the site of Arts Centre Melbourne – a performing arts complex – and the National Gallery of Victoria, with Australian and indigenous art. (Google Travel, 2023)

Melbourne Cricket Ground is home to Australian football and the National Sports Museum, serving as a music venue and more. (Google Travel, 2023)

The National Gallery of Victoria has a vast, varied collection of Australian and international art and artefacts. (Google Travel, 2023)

I am using indigenous art to inspire the Melbourne guidebook cover design.  I am choosing orange and ocher to represent the art, together with black and white, two tones/colours often seen in Australian indigenous art.  I am still deciding if I will use dark blue.  Dark blue can be cold and change the feel of the design, so I might resort to another darker tone.  I will use script typography to flow with the natural-looking lines of the design.

Sketch No. 8 (figure 34) will be my final design.  I want to change the black to a softer, darker tone or add some texture to the design to give the design an organic look.

I completed the design for Melbourne in Adobe Photoshop.  I created a brush with indigenous patterns from my moodboard and used it as a stencil over parts of the design to create interesting textures.

Montréal, Canada

Montréal is the largest city in Canada’s Québec province on an island in the Saint Lawrence River named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill at its heart.  Its boroughs, many of which were once independent cities, include neighbourhoods ranging from cobblestoned, French colonial Vieux-Montréal, with the Gothic Revival Notre-Dame Basilica at its centre, to bohemian Plateau. (Google Travel, 2023)

Mount Royal is a landmark mountain with a park and year-round lookout at the peak offering sweeping views of the city. (Google Travel, 2023)

The Port of Montreal is one of the largest inland ports in the world, handling over 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. (Wikipedia, 2023)

The maple tree symbolises strength and endurance and is Canada’s national tree.

I will use the view of the city from Mount Royal as a starting point to brainstorm ideas for the Montréal guidebook cover design.  I will also include maple leaves in the design.

In the moodboard (figure 37), I am using green, red, deep blue and white as the colour palette to incorporate the French Colonial roots of Montréal.  

I am using sketch No. 12 (figure 38) to create the design in Adobe Illustrator and then export the design as a SVG file into my cutting machine software, Cricut Design Space.  The shapes will be cut onto black cardboard paper, except for the red, and scanned into Photoshop.  I will then colour each piece according to the design and “build” the design in Photoshop. 

Mumbai, India

Mumbai (formerly called Bombay) is a densely populated city on India’s west coast.  A financial centre and India’s largest city.  On the Mumbai Harbour waterfront stands the iconic Gateway of India stone arch, built by the British Raj in 1924.  Offshore, nearby Elephanta Island holds ancient cave temples dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.  The city’s also famous as the heart of the Bollywood film industry. (Google Travel, 2023)

I will use the Gateway of India stone arch as an inspiration for this design.  The colour palette was collected from pictures from the Shree Siddhivinayak Temple.  

I will generate this design in Adobe Illustrator and, this time, bring in some smaller elements to see if I can create texture to an all-vector illustration.  

I simplified the design slightly and changed the typography to a font more fitting to the theme.  I decided against adding too many small elements, as it could distract the viewer from the main focus of the illustration, which is the typography and the building.

The previous section on Understanding colour came was helpful in this exercise.  I find Adobe Illustrator the best program for creating abstract designs.  The pen tool is more advanced, and elements are easily manipulated with utmost precision.  Adobe Photoshop is good for adding stencils and textures to layers.  The cutting machine, Cricut Explorer 3, is a wonderful tool for expanding designs to paper-cut designs.  I find it better to work with coloured paper and then tweak the colour slightly in Photoshop compared to changing black cardboard to coloured layers.  I will like to explore this method further. 

Below are all ten designs displayed together in a grid.  This was a challenging exercise, but looking back now that it’s done, I can honestly say it was equally rewarding. 

Works Cited

Google Travel. (2023, January 30). Google Travel. Retrieved from Google Travel: https://www.google.com/travel/things-to-do?dest_mid=%2Fm%2F056_y&dest_state_type=main&dest_src=yts&q=Madrid&ved=0CAAQ8IAIahcKEwiA5_eo2u78AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQFA&tcfs=UgRgAXgB

Spain Traveller. (2023, January 30). What is bullfighting? Retrieved from Spain Traveller: https://www.spain-traveller.com/en/what-is-bullfighting/

Civitatis. (2023, January 30). Top Attractions in Madrid. Retrieved from Civitatis: https://www.introducingmadrid.com/top-attractions

Madrid. (2023, January 30). Welcome to Madrid. Retrieved from Madrid Offical tourism website: https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tradition-and-culture

Visit Sweden. (2023, January 31). Malmo. Retrieved from Visit Sweden: https://visitsweden.com/where-to-go/southern-sweden/malmo/

Wikipedia. (2023, January 31). Trees of Life. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_of_Life

Wikipedia. (2023, February 2). September 11 attacks. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks

Wikipedia. (2023, February 2). High Line. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line

France Today. (2014, August 8). Top 5 Sunniest Places in France. Retrieved from France Today: https://francetoday.com/travel/travel-features/top_5_sunniest_places_in_france/

Wikipedia. (2023, February 5). Montreal. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal