Exercise: Travel guides

Exploration
Rather like the audience the travel guide is aimed at, I guess to start this exercise I need to explore and familiarise myself with the three cities that are the subject of it. I recently saw an episode of a series about the aspects of the history of Istanbul 'Byzantium - A Tale of Three Cities'. So I have a few pointers to work with, but know nothing about Helsinki and Milan
I suppose one of the questions to ask is; what type of person or persons will the travel guide be aimed at? general sightseeing, essentially historical, cultural, architectural or a combination of all
I feel its important that the design should make the location appear interesting on different levels, and therefore encourage the customer to want to look inside the book even if it means including something unfamiliar or at least not recognisable, hopefully something aesthetically pleasing to whet the appetite.
My rough brief; taking the size 240mm x 160mm (Helligan handbook)landscape.
Capture a wide variation of aspects of the city; historical, cultural, geological; archetectural, showing where possible the place as modern and vibrant, forward looking as well as in its historical context
I created three mood, come reference panels based on research on the web

I also included font references to assist with that aspect. As I was creating the boards I was already having ideas about Istanbul the domes and minarets are so striking, that as a silhouette I think they are visually engaging, albeit a bit cliche
Some ideas.. I quite like the idea of a contrast between the ancient and modern skylines, perhaps superimposed?..

Or Historical and modern juxtaposed naturally in the same scene

I did some research on likely fonts

This one was found under the header Byzantium..
I liked this style but thought I could improve on it by turning the verticals into minarets like..

I continued piecing together the client visual for the Istanbul version whilst formulating ideas for Helsinki
In the Basiclica Cistern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Cistern there is a bronze pillar, on the pillar is a repeated pattern reminiscent of the 'eye' on a peacocks tail.
It is just the sort of off the wall image that I am looking for
some attempts at replicating them...

So the client visual is looking like this...

The sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque and the Ortaköy osque incorporating the Bosphorus suspension Bridge laid over the top. In the Ipad app Procreate I then drew outlines of the other elements. Adding the Whirling Dervish (Sufi) Skirts. I then saved as a jpeg to import to Adobe Indesign on a layout of the correct dimensions.
I will be taking Istanbul to mockup stage.

My work on Helsinki progresses
There is a statue called the Havis Amanda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havis_Amanda I have decided to build the design around it.

The font is a hand rendition of Nordic Font  quite apt. My original selection has licensing implications so I have dropped that particular one.

I have to include the stunning Sibelius Monument. A mass of engraved stainless steel tubes brought together in a fantastic sculpture.

This is my sketch view and read about the monument here: http://www.eilahiltunen.net/monument.html
I have also a sketch from an original architect impression of the Kiasma Art Gallery

And sketch of Helsinki Cathedral

Client visual, with the addition of City badge and captions indicating what the places are.

Up to this point Milan is on the back burner, I want to keep it simple I have seen a couple of images that I think could work well together. There are statues on top of the spires of the Duomo di Milano they are in effect overlooking the city. I also found a graphic of all the tall buildings in a line,I could take a section and create a skyline effect with the statues overlooking.

I discovered that the boroughs of the city make a good graphical pattern, like the petals of a flower
My hand copied font

The Milan client visual

The Istanbul mockup; I cut out the silhouettes of the two mosques and in Photoshop and applied colour. With the palette I tried to reflect the warm colours of the climate and the bright blue of the sea. Initially I was only going to use only the skirts of the dancers but went for a combination of the two I thought about adding captions but decided to make a design out of the place descriptions.

My completed mock up

Having completed the exercise, on reflection there are some observations; The background colour is lighter on screen and gives the idea better balance overall. The design is not what you would call diagramatical. The reproduction of the font for Istanbul has turned out quite indistinct. The design doesn't fulfil the remit of showing a balance between historical and modern city life. of course all of these issues can be addressed going forward.