London Boroughs Typographical Map

Typographical maps (maps made up of words representing each area, which form the map themselves) are a favourite of Mapping London and we featured a lovely example earlier this year. It is a lovely print but it had one problem – it only featured the central area of London. Lots of interesting places in Zone 1-2 of course, but if you lived east of Bow, north of Highbury or south of Brixton, your area didn’t get a look in.

So we were delighted to discover a new Typographical Map of London Boroughs print by Dani Loureiro, a “letterer” and illustrator, that covers the whole of the capital city. All 32 boroughs, plus the City of London in the centre, are included, the borough names forming the approximate shape of the borough they are in, the remaining spaces filled with illustrated sketches of landmarks in each borough. It can seem sometimes that all the interesting places in London are in the centre, so it’s good to see, amongst others, nods to the RAF Museum in Colindale, Hampton Court Palace, and the Victorian dinosaurs of Crystal Palace Park, a personal favourite quirky bit of London. At the very heart of the map sites the Gherkin skyscraper – love it or hate it it is very much a London symbol now.

The effect of the heavy, “worn” black type, for both the names and sketches, on the cream paper, is really rather nice. The only colour is a great ribbon of blue across the map, showing the river Thames. The boundary of London is allowed to bulge – slightly – to fit the detail in, but it is topologically correct – the boroughs connect to each other in the right way. It is a lovely art print that just happens to be a map too.

There are more photos of the work on Great Little Prints, where you can also buy the print on 250gsm paper in A3, A2 or (if you have the space!) A1 sizes, or browse other London prints.

Mapping London is delighted to be affiliated to Great Little Place. We are looking forward to featuring a number of their lovely London map-based art prints here on Mapping London, in the months ahead.