Typographic maps story

I have been a graphic designer, layouter and book setter most of my life and decided to do something out of the ordinary as a contrast to the accuracy required by book setting. I spent a good amount of thoughts on how to create my maps as I have a lot of respect towards type and type setting.

My typographic maps show all districts of a city in their actual borders. This results in a letter map, in which each district is located in the exact spot it belongs. In addition to the official quarters, my maps also feature numerous unofficial, grown areas and neighbourhoods in their exact spot, which you don’t normally find in regular maps. These quarters are a special feature of my maps as they make the viewer identify with their own town and neighbourhood. Another key feature is that I keep the letters in their natural shape, exactly as created by their designer, without distortion or bending, which makes my task a fragile one because it makes it much more difficult to fill the neighbourhoods to there optimum.

But because of this, topography is emerging from typography, as the font size determines the population density of a quarter. Just as bright or dark colours in a map represent high and low points, or densely populated areas appear thicker than rural areas. The common features of contemporary maps, except for rivers, are not shown in my maps and the viewer must move from district to district when trying to read them.

I realised from the start that my designs will need a special form of display and I was looking into different print techniques for small editions. In screen printing, the paint forms an attractive contrast on top of the surface of the selected natural paper resulting in a high quality handmade product. It was not long before I put together my own screen print shop from second hand machines and tools. This is still the place where all my posters are printed before setting out to my customers from all over the world.

Every time I work on a new place from anywhere in the world, no matter if I have visited it in real life or not, I learn new things about it and start seeing it in its own way. I love to experience the difference and the unique features of each place and I am exited when I see it emerging from the map I am working on: With every single letter I am placing one by one the place is getting into shape and every time I am curious of what will emerge from weeks of research and type setting.

Happy being able to share this experience with you :)