The street corner only two people care about
Most maps are bought for a place everybody knows. This one is for a place that matters to two people: the bar, the lecture hall, the station platform, a friend's kitchen. Nobody else would think to hang it on a wall, which is exactly why it works as a gift. You are not giving a map of a town. You are giving the evening it started, drawn as streets.
What to write on it
There is a large line and a smaller one beneath, and both are yours to write. The words that land best are short and sound like something only the two of you would say. A date turns the map into a record.
- OUR FIRST KISS 14.02.2019
- OUR FIRST HELLO HARROGATE
- TABLE FOR TWO THE NIGHT WE MET
- YOU HAD ME AT HARROGATE SINCE 2019
The designer also has a date field of its own, which prints the day in full on a separate line, as in 14 FEBRUARY 2019. If you prefer 14.02.2019, type it into the smaller line instead. The coordinates of your spot sit at the bottom unless you turn them off.
Why a circle, and why Merlot
We suggest the Circle border here. It draws the map as a round window on a pale margin with your words underneath, and a circle pulls the eye to its middle, which is where the pin goes. Change that pin to a heart and it sits on the very doorway, bench or bus stop.
For colour, Merlot is our pick: a dusty rose ground with deep wine linework, warm without being sugary. If the two of you are more black and white than rose, Noir and Carbon are in the same list of 19 styles.
A worked example
Say your first kiss was in Harrogate, outside a café a short walk from the Stray. Search for the town, drag the map until the café is in the middle, then zoom in until the nearby streets fill the circle. Move the pin onto the door and make it a heart. Type OUR FIRST KISS as the title, add the date and press Preview.
What comes back is the real artwork, drawn the way it will be printed, not a template with your words pasted over it. If the heart is one street out, nudge it and preview again. Nothing goes to print until you approve it.
When people give one
An anniversary, Valentine's Day, the morning of the wedding, or no occasion at all. It also works for friendships: the halls where four flatmates met deserve a map as much as any first date does.