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City Guides

A city, told differently

Editorial Design · Illustration · Culture

Cover of Ethiopian City Guides: Addis Ababa, Old Piazza. A watercolour of a two-storey green villa with a veranda, framed by palm trees.

The Story

Every city has a story.Some are written in its streets.

Ethiopia's cities carry their histories in architecture, public spaces, neighborhoods, and everyday life. Behind their buildings are stories of people, cultures, and encounters that have shaped each place over generations.

The Ethiopian City Guides series invites readers to discover these stories through illustrated publications that bring together historical research, original artwork, maps, and walking routes.

Created for the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies, the guides offer a different way to read and experience the city.

Opening spread of the Old Piazza guide: a watercolour of the Menelik II equestrian statue beside the table of contents and its three walking tours.
Addis Ababa: Old Piazza, contents. Three walking tours, three focus chapters, a chronology and a glossary.

The Idea

History you canwalk through.

The idea was to turn historical knowledge into a journey of discovery.

Working with researchers, writers, and artists, Resolution Studio brought together editorial design, watercolor illustration, and cartography to create publications that are both informative and inviting.

Each guide balances detailed historical accounts with visual storytelling, encouraging readers to observe the buildings, streets, and architectural details around them.

  1. 1
    Watercolour of the Itegue Taytu Hotel entrance, 1907, with palms and stone steps.
    Tour 1 · Central Piazza
    Itegue Taytu Hotel
  2. 2
    Watercolour of the stone façade of the Bank of Abyssinia with its pediment and flag.
    Tour 2 · Addis Ababa's Early Mall
    The Bank of Abyssinia
  3. 3
    Watercolour of the Seba Dereja stone stairs climbing between trees.
    Tour 3 · Villas of the Armenian Quarter
    Seba Dereja, the seventy stairs

The Work

The city, in detail.

Illustration

Watercolor illustrations capture the character of buildings, streets, and landmarks, revealing architectural details and giving each publication a distinctive visual identity.

Spread: Mohamedally’s first general store, a large watercolour of a green two-storey building with balconies, beside the text of Tour 2.
Tour 2, pages 34 to 35. Mohamedally’s first general store, built in 1904.
Detail: a multi-paned glass balcony on Gandhi Street, painted in watercolour.
A multi-paned glass balcony on Gandhi Street, similar to those of the old port of Massawa.
Spread: a market street in the Armenian Quarter, painted edge to edge in loose watercolour.
Tour 3, pages 52 to 53. A market street painted across the whole spread.

Editorial Design

Thoughtful typography, page composition, and visual hierarchy bring historical narratives and artwork together, creating a reading experience that feels both accessible and considered.

Spread: Avakian’s House, two watercolour houses set into the running text.
Pages 22 to 23. Text and image share the page; illustrations bleed and drip into the margins.
Spread: Gandhi Street, a tall watercolour façade with captions set in narrow side columns.
Pages 28 to 29. Side captions point the reader to details on the building itself.
Spread: Seba Dereja, a villa and the stone stairs with text flowing around them.
Pages 42 to 43. Walking directions are set in bold italics so the route is never lost in the history.

Cartography

Illustrated maps and self-guided walking routes connect the stories on the page to the physical city, inviting readers to explore at their own pace.

Spread: Tour 1, Central Piazza, with a watercolour of the Taytu Hotel and an illustrated map of the neighbourhood with ten numbered stops.
Each tour opens with its own illustrated map and numbered stops.
The Piazza CityMap: an illustrated aerial map of the neighbourhood with the three walking tours drawn in orange, green and teal.
The Piazza CityMap, folded into the back of the guide. The three tours are drawn in their own colours.

The Series

Three cities.Different histories.

  • Cover: Addis Ababa, Old Piazza.

    Addis Ababa · Old Piazza

    A journey through Arada, one of Addis Ababa's historic commercial centers. Three walking tours reveal its early architecture, trading history, and the cultural influences that shaped the neighborhood.

  • Cover: Gondar.

    Gondar

    An illustrated guide to the former royal capital, exploring its architectural heritage, historical landmarks, and the stories surrounding the city.

  • Cover: Dire Dawa.

    Dire Dawa

    A visual exploration of the city's distinctive urban character, architecture, and cultural history.

The Outcome

A different wayto experience a city.

The City Guides series brings together research, design, and illustration to make Ethiopia's urban heritage more accessible.

Each publication becomes a companion for discovery, connecting readers with the histories and details that give a city its character.

Watercolour of Fitawari Kelikile’s residence, a villa with a carved central veranda and a conical tower roof, half covered in climbing plants.

Every street holds a story

Project
City Guides
Client / Publisher
French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE)Client name to be confirmed
Disciplines
Editorial Design · Illustration · Cartography
Publications
Addis Ababa: Old Piazza · Gondar · Dire Dawa

Credits · Addis Ababa: Old Piazza

Designed, illustrated and mapped through Resolution Studio.

Text
Dominique Harre
Illustrations
Wondimagegn Gashaw
Graphic design and maps
Jonathan Le Péchon
Publisher
Centre Français des Études Éthiopiennes, with Shama Books, 2017

Credits for the Gondar and Dire Dawa volumes to be added from their imprint pages.

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