We love to travel and it is no secret that we love maps (we’ve posted about them a whole bunch in the past). I also love seeing how many fantastic ways etsy sellers are making maps — from pillows to prints, paint-by-numbers to cut paper, here are some really awesome mappy finds.
Given how often we discuss maps, it should come as no surprise that we are also big fans of globes; I’m kind of loving these decoupaged vintage globes from ImagineNations. Oh, and if there is something you’ve been dying to see on a globe, she makes custom commissions.
Happy Monday! Today’s post is about graphic designer/artist Louis Reith. Louis currently resides in Amsterdam, NL. I just happened upon his flickr site, and was completely blown away! Most of these pieces I’m posting about today, he creates out of old maps and book pages. For more photos and information pertaining to his work, check out his site here.
We’ve posted about Famille Summerbelle’s maps in the past, and while I think they are all lovely, Julie Marabelle has really outdone herself with her new world map. I would love to see it in person to see all of the darling illustrations and details. Check out the video below for a peek into Julie’s process.
Tokyo Rail Map Poster and Calendar, zero per zero, 2008. Click for larger version.
I got really excited about this map of Tokyo’s complex rail system by Korean designers zero per zero today. It establishes a new abstraction vocabulary (arcs) for railway maps, which since Harry Beck’s 1933 Tube map (more on which below) have tended to use variations on his circuit-boardy angle system. And it uses chocolate brown, which I hope against hope will never go out of style again. And it has an underlying 12×31 grid and comes packaged with post-it notes sized to the grid squares: that’s right; you can use the thing as a calendar! It’s available straight from Korea here — San Francisco friends give me a shout if you want something, we’ll combine shipping! along with smaller folding versions with great info backs. And New York, Osaka and Seoul editions.
A little discussion of some more great rail maps featuring Messrs Beck, Vignelli, Hertz, Jabbour and Good Magazine after the jump.
I love seeing the ways in which different artists approach the same theme. The four artists below use the boundaries of maps to create beautiful pieces of art all in distinct styles and media.
I’ve been admiring these State Maps from Frank Chimero for a while — I first saw them at his shop at 1000 Markets where you can get prints of the individual states (in addition to selling at 1000 Markets, he also works as the interaction designer for the site). You can see see more of his work on his site and if you’d like to learn more about his work and process, there is an extensive interview over on Grain Edit.
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Great typographic City Neighborhood posters by Ork Posters; available both as posters and screenprints in a variety of colorways.
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The World
Detail from Manhattan, 2007
Middle East, 2007
Paris, 2007 I would love to see these amazing typographic map paintings by Paula Scher in person. I have a feeling that the images online don’t really do them justice — the level of detail looks unbelievable. View more maps at Paula Scher’s site and at the Maya Stendhal Gallery.