Marseille Map Poster: Coastline and Old Port

Why this city works as a poster

The coast decides everything: it occupies the left or bottom edge of the poster depending on orientation, and the city unfolds against it. The Old Port notches that line with a clean rectangle, an artificial shape in the middle of an irregular coast. That contrast between natural jaggedness and the port's right angle is what makes the map instantly legible.

Recommended framing

Do not centre on the Old Port: shift it toward the left third so the city can spread to the right. A wide 12 km frame also catches the start of the calanques to the south, whose jagged edge is the most graphic part of the map.

Which theme to pick

A theme with strong contrast between water and land. Water occupies a significant share of the surface here: if its tone sits too close to the background, the poster loses its shape and stops looking like Marseille.

Where to centre the map

Vieux-Port

The rectangle of water at the city's heart, ringed by a dense grid.

Calanques

To the south, a coast cut with coves. Framed alone it gives a map more abstract than urban.

La Canebière

The straight axis running east from the port, one of the few rectilinear lines on the map.

How its streets are oriented