Marrakesh is not a city that I’ve visited before so again I’ve looked at the rough travel guide to help me figure out where to begin my research. I then formed a mind map of places to find images of as a source for ideas. I also contacted a friend who had visited the city and found a photo of her’s to use as inspiration.

Mind map of places to research.

Marrakesh Shop

Atlas Mountains Border of Marrakesh

Market in Marrakesh

Red/Pink stone building

Street view – again pink stone

Looking at some of these images I began to see a pattern in terms of certain features of the city. One was the colour of the buildings, a dusty pink or range colour. The other was the way colour was added to the city by way of the markets which sprawled over building selling their bright wares.

Colourful market stalls

The photo below was taken by a friend of mine on her trip to the city and I’ve included it as an example of the interaction between the buildings and the market stalls.

Anna Byer’s photo of Marrakesh

First version of cover:

Guide cover – Marrakesh V.1

I’m aware I made a typo and misspelled the name of the city! I will change that! My aim with this version was to get that colour of the buildings in there as a subordinate colour with a mix of brighter/accent colours to act as a nod to the bright market stall and products. I think it does work fairly well but my husband suggested a different version so I’ve tried that too.

So here’s a correct spelling of Marrakesh and the second version:

In theory the second version worked but in reality it doesn’t have the same vibrancy or sense of life as the first version I think it looks quite static. For that reason I think I prefer the first version as it celebrates the vibrancy of the city.