Map for Anissa Helou's 'Feast'

Client: HarperCollins USA | December 2017 | Adobe Illustrator
I was commissioned by HarperCollins USA to draw a map for the new recipe book by the Lebanese writer and chef Anissa Helou, Feast: Food of the Islamic World (published in May 2018 by their imprint Ecco Books). Featured as a double-page spread in the book's introduction, the map focuses on a section of the world between Africa, the Middle East and central, southern and southeastern Asia, highlighting in colour all of the countries and regions from which the recipes in the book originate, as well as other Muslim countries with a significant Muslim population.

The map's design and colour scheme were inspired by antique maps (in particular 19th-century maps of exploration) and its typography and use of city symbols in particular directly inspired by atlas maps published by GW Bacon in the early 20th century. The Islamic-style border decoration imitates the graphics in the book designed by the publishers. The whole map was drawn using Adobe Illustrator, with the shaded mountain relief added in Adobe Photoshop.