Travel guides
The brief:
'To produce three illustrations for a series of book jackets at the size on an existing travel guide for the locations Istanbul, Helsinki and Milan.
The client would like you to create illustrations in which many element are brought together in a diagrammatic way. They would also like the type to be hand drawn in an appropriate style'.
I haven't visited any of these cities so I'm going to rely heavily on reference examples to help guide me through my ideas and drawings.
Research:
Examples of travel guides...
All of these examples contain photos. Blocks of colour. The place name is bold, readable and very obvious.
What is Istanbul famous for?
The Hagia Sophia . The Blue Mosque. Night life. Turkish tea. Turkish baths. Spices. Rugs.
What is Helsinki famous for?
Over 100 km of shore line. Saunas. Food. Kossu vodka. Cocktails - Lakka & Mesimarja. Design. Urban.
What is Milan famous for?
Flags & Geography:
The colours of the flags give me a starting point of colour for my covers.
Mind map:
I am struggling to find a way in with this exercise. I don't really find the existing travel guides I have looked at, online, and in Waterstones all that inspiring. I also have little inside knowledge of the cites. However, maybe this will help. Rather than focus solely on the cities, I decided to think about "travel".
I really liked the thoughts of dates, relaxation, treats, shopping, unwinding. A would imagine a city break being more of an adult occasion.
One image that comes to mind is a drawing I did back at the beginning of tomatoes on an Italian balcony, inspired by the work of Minton. This is food for thought. Maybe street views of Milan, Istanbul and Helsinki. A date for two sat in a street, maybe with cocktails? Shopping? Coffee?
Mood Boards:
Milan:
I adore this! I love the vibe, the colour, the thought of coffee or cocktails in a street in Milan...
Istanbul:
Turkish tea with blues and yellow, pinks and greens in the street...
Helsinki:
Vodka cocktails and beige and yellow streets...
My brief:
Produce a travel guide jacket to the size of 5"x8" (size researched in Waterstones).
An adult audience concentrating on a date for two, unwinding and relaxing weekend away.
Be colourful and contemporary and different to other travel guide jackets on the market.
Thumbnails:
My priorities are a street scene, with a drinks date for two with the name of the city positioned...
Feeling quite excited about my mood boards, I decided to sketch a street from each city (researched online). I find the lines and colour incredibly exciting. I am relieved as I was struggling to find an exciting way in with this exercise, however my mood boards have guided me here:
Milan:
Istanbul:
Helsinki:
Font:
I would like to colour the city name in a colour taken from the countries flag. Here I played with fonts to see which one would best fit my travel guides. This exercise has asked for the fonts to be hand drawn, so I will use these fonts as my guide.
Hand drawn Fonts:
I opted for 'AR Berkley'.
Client Visuals:
On the left Istanbul. On the right, Helsinki. My hand drawn font will sit along the bottom of the illustration.
Milan..
I have decided to carry Milan on to a final version.
Very aware that the brief asks from a number of elements. I will work on adding my coffee date to the jacket. Now when I produced the visual, it become clear that I might struggle for room. So here I have a look at including two expresso cups on the back of the jacket.
Also. what could they be sitting on? As I looked at the flags earlier on as research, perhaps this is another element that could be included.
Mock up:
Using the angle of a street guide, I pinned each element together onto a board. The typed font here is also 'AR Berkley'.
Reflection:
I am going to start with the very negative here. I found this exercise incredibly challenging, to the point I was afraid I would have nothing to show for this one. It was very difficult to find a way in. I have very little knowledge of these cities, so no first hand knowledge at all. As a consequence to this challenge, I very quickly lost confidence in my ability and have felt completely out of my depth.
However, the positive. I ploughed on through and found the street rough sketches really energizing and really exciting. Looking further into street art, I started following urban street artists and feel I would like to learn how to work like this and learn how to deliver quick, accurate, ink street drawings. I am inspired by this style of work.
The end result is a little stale compared to my initial sketches.
I pinned each element together, as I was lacking in confidence here to go for an absolute final version.
I kept going.
Turkish tea with blues and yellow, pinks and greens in the street...
Vodka cocktails and beige and yellow streets...
My brief:
Produce a travel guide jacket to the size of 5"x8" (size researched in Waterstones).
An adult audience concentrating on a date for two, unwinding and relaxing weekend away.
Be colourful and contemporary and different to other travel guide jackets on the market.
Thumbnails:
My priorities are a street scene, with a drinks date for two with the name of the city positioned...
Feeling quite excited about my mood boards, I decided to sketch a street from each city (researched online). I find the lines and colour incredibly exciting. I am relieved as I was struggling to find an exciting way in with this exercise, however my mood boards have guided me here:
Milan:
Istanbul:
Helsinki:
I would like to colour the city name in a colour taken from the countries flag. Here I played with fonts to see which one would best fit my travel guides. This exercise has asked for the fonts to be hand drawn, so I will use these fonts as my guide.
Milan
(MV Boli)
Milan
(AR Blanca)
Milan
(AR Essence)
Milan
(AR Berkley)
Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki
Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul
I opted for 'AR Berkley'.
Client Visuals:
On the left Istanbul. On the right, Helsinki. My hand drawn font will sit along the bottom of the illustration.
Milan..
I have decided to carry Milan on to a final version.
Very aware that the brief asks from a number of elements. I will work on adding my coffee date to the jacket. Now when I produced the visual, it become clear that I might struggle for room. So here I have a look at including two expresso cups on the back of the jacket.
Also. what could they be sitting on? As I looked at the flags earlier on as research, perhaps this is another element that could be included.
Mock up:
Using the angle of a street guide, I pinned each element together onto a board. The typed font here is also 'AR Berkley'.
Reflection:
I am going to start with the very negative here. I found this exercise incredibly challenging, to the point I was afraid I would have nothing to show for this one. It was very difficult to find a way in. I have very little knowledge of these cities, so no first hand knowledge at all. As a consequence to this challenge, I very quickly lost confidence in my ability and have felt completely out of my depth.
However, the positive. I ploughed on through and found the street rough sketches really energizing and really exciting. Looking further into street art, I started following urban street artists and feel I would like to learn how to work like this and learn how to deliver quick, accurate, ink street drawings. I am inspired by this style of work.
The end result is a little stale compared to my initial sketches.
I pinned each element together, as I was lacking in confidence here to go for an absolute final version.
I kept going.
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