Designer Hides the Name of Major Cities in Minimalist Illustrations of Landmarks

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Yemen-based graphic designer Mohamed Al-Jaadaby builds iconic monuments using only letters. His ongoing series of minimalist illustrations feature the names of some of the world's most iconic cities inside of major landmarks.

To achieve these puzzling designs, Al-Jaadaby manipulates each individual character to fit the architecture associated with the metropolis. In the case of Athens, for instance, he fits each letter inside the base of the famous Parthenon, imitating the columns that hold up the famous ancient Greek temple. Similarly, in his Istanbul icon, Al-Jaadaby extends the tallest point of most of the letters into lengthy minarets, while the “b” bends backward into a half-circular shape reminiscent of the Çamlıca Mosque, the largest mosque in Turkey.

Interestingly, it does not take long for viewers to make out the name that is disguised in the structure, regardless of how it is manipulated. Al-Jaadaby manages to integrate the characters elegantly into each design and emphasizes the minimalism by limiting the series to a white and black palette. If you look carefully at the background, you can see a photograph of the real-life inspiration framing the striking emblem.

Scroll down to see more designs from this series, and keep up to date with Al-Jaadaby's latest work by following him on Instagram.

Yemen-based graphic designer Mohamed Al-Jaadaby creates minimalist illustrations of major landmarks.

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

He hides the name of major cities inside these designs.

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Designer Hides City Names Inside Landmark Illustrations

Mohamed Al-Jaadaby: Instagram | Behance | YouTube

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Mohamed Al-Jaadaby.

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Margherita Cole

Margherita Cole is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and illustrator based in Southern California. She holds a BA in Art History with a minor in Studio Art from Wofford College, and an MA in Illustration: Authorial Practice from Falmouth University in the UK. She wrote and illustrated an instructional art book about how to draw cartoons titled 'Cartooning Made Easy: Circle, Triangle, Square' that was published by Walter Foster in 2022.
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