Starting with her design of a Chicago map hanging on her living room wall, Jenny Beorkrem wondered if other people might also want to hang the poster on their wall. Working a day job as a graphic designer, Beorkrem began Ork Posters with just a few sales on Etsy. She learned to screenprint, produced more posters, and then some blog writers started to take notice. This spike of interest gave her reason to expand her offerings and create more designs. Since its beginning in 2007, Ork Posters now offers 26 maps – with the Bronx just added this past August. Although Ork Posters has scaled up to accommodate the number of orders, they are still printed locally in Chicago.
Lettering is done in the geometric sans serif typeface DIN 1451. Creative typesetting is as much for description as it is for graphic impact. Taking inspiration from modernist designers Charles and Ray Eames, Beorkrem quotes the duo’s design credo: “The best for the most for the least.”
