The Mount Nelson is one of the most beautiful and oldest hotels in Cape Town and it has gained some weird, funny stories over the years. I created a zine showing 10 things that you never would have known about the Mount Nelson. This is issue one and each next issue will have 10 more interesting stories.
I am a graphic design student at AAA School of Advertising and as one of our briefs we were required to create a zine that praises a hotel, restaurant, event or fashion store. I chose the Mount Nelson as my boyfriends father is the head chef therefore he has amazing access to all the weird things that people wouldn't know about it. Also the Mount Nelson is a beautiful, subtly quirky hotel with so much history that I couldn't resist.
I chose illustration as it is an absolute passion of mine and I hope to one day become an illustrator. I wanted the illustrations to have a light hearted darkness to them and to tell the story of the Mount Nelson in a weird and quirky way.
I used hand drawn images scanned in and coloured them in on Adobe Illustrator. The colour palette is very much Grand Budapest Hotel as The Mount Nelson is Cape Towns very own grand budapest. The colours also reflect the pink of the hotel which is so loved by Cape Tonians and visitors.
This projects aim was to be simple and sweet with a funky edge. It was not made to be corporate but rather just a memorabilia for a beloved South African destination. I absolutely loved doing it because it was The Mount Nelson is so close to my heart. People reacted with 'ooohs' and 'awws' as well as 'I never knew that'! Which was exactly my aim. I love stories and weird facts - its always so interesting hearing things about places you love because it just brings them closer to your heart and that's how I wanted people to feel about The Mount Nelly after reading my zine.
