London-based graphic artist, Dex, has been creating typographic maps of (mostly) London for the past 8 years. In 2012, he created The Literary London Map. The first of a pop-culture-themed trilogy of typographic maps of London Town. The Literary London Map was followed in 2015 by The London Film Map, and the trilogy was completed in 2018 with The Music Map of London. Each map celebrates the capital’s credentials as one of the world’s most iconic, cinematic, and creative cities. Showcasing London’s legendary literary heritage and deep down music, and featuring novels, films, and some of the best musicians in history all plotted in the locations they are most famously associated; each map is a labour of love, taking up to a year to complete.
Dex’s obsession has led him to create a number of other typographic maps of his home town that explore everything from London’s streets and pubs, to a map of the bridges over the river Thames. His latest piece, Animals of London, is a take on London’s underground map, and is packed with London’s creatures great and small. 20% from the sale of each map goes to the London Wildlife Trust.
For each work, Dex starts by piecing together screenshots from Google Maps to create the area he is going to map. He then locks that on a layer and starts plotting on top of it with his Wacom tablet. Dex then draws on the river Thames and places the names of London’s neighbourhoods and boroughs, so that he has something to orientate to. Then he begins filling up the map with the thematic stuff.
“On the music map, for example, I’ll begin by putting some of the big ones, David Bowie down in Brixton where he was born, the Beatles crossing Abbey Road. As the map starts to fill up, I like to make it nice and dense. I will often spend hours researching an area to find any association to my theme. The centre of town is normally pretty easy, and it’s more about curating what I choose (normally the things I personally like best!). But the further you go out the harder it is.”
Dex’s maps have been featured in Time Out, The Independent, and The Evening Standard, among many others, as well as on the front cover of the Japanese Brain Magazine, Buzz Feed, countless blogs, and in numerous map compendiums, including the Londonist’s Mapped book.
www.typographicdex.com
@typographic_dex
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