New York-based designer and inventor, Archie Archambault has made quite a splash online thanks to his innovative ways of turning physical spaces and tangible experiences into informative maps. His original maps include diagrams of classic cocktails, the rules of baseball, and even pizza toppings.
But his map series began fairly traditionally. “The whole series started with the Portland map,” he explained once in an interview with the Ohh Deer blog. “Portland is a pretty geniusly designed city with very simple radial divisions. There were a few unclear things in my mind, so I made a map to help me explain the city as a whole. Just a few lines and some circles.”
According to the designer, his maps’ minimalist aesthetic draws from his experience as a letterpress printer, relying upon type and lines. “I actually have no formal graphic design training which shows when I try to do things like make a catalog or design a webpage,” he notes, incredibly. “I would never get hired as a designer. Everything I learned is from type-setting in letterpress printing, which is a totally antiquated (went out of style in the 1950’s), and in hindsight, was probably a waste of time.”
With a cult following online, Archambault’s maps prove that even when there’s no place to travel to, we can always rely on our creative spirit and imagination.
