Note: This is now available for purchase here

This took three times as long as I thought to make!

It’s my second physical product so I had already learned the basics of producing this type of idea. These type of projects for me start out in a rush of excitement to fulfill a creative hole and a curiosity. What I pride myself on, is that I take these ideas to the next step and slog through the months of design and logistics to make them a reality.

The map design was by far the most engaging part. I worked on dozens of versions to get to the final piece. I have a background in cartography so spent lots of time experimenting with different data, projections and fonts styles. I ended up swapping the projection at the last minute (the final one is a Robinson’s projection).

I hired a freelancer to create the box since I didn’t know anything about package design. Unfortunately for me, I found his work uninspiring, so I went ahead myself to create the final packaging myself. (Check out plane detail where you rip around the box to get to the poster!)

After designing the map, there is an annoying stretch of time where I had to guide my chosen manufacturer through detailed processes that they ignore anyway. From there, I went through a month of making samples and tweaks. Once those are complete, productions starts and there are shipping and customs logistics that follow.  Creating for the physical world was always something I longed for when working on the web. However,  the challenges of production suck about half a bottle of fun out the process, although there are chances for creativity there too.

The idea with the “World Scratch Off Map” is that you can scratch off places you’ve been in the world. The same concept with putting pins on a map but with a different twist. It was originally invented by a couple genius designers at a company called Luckies based in the UK.

Obviously I loved the concept and wanted to add to it. If you know me, you know I’ve been obsessed with maps for my entire adult life. The first map I created was on oversized map of Cambridge I made in 2010 where I would post thumbnail photos. Embarrassing photo:

It’s a thrill to be able to finally launch this. I’ll be investing some energy on the marketing for a while and then moving on to fill the void in a different way.

You can get the scratch off map at landmassgoods.com

Note: This is now available for purchase here