Native Maps

🏞️ Introducing the National Parks Scratch-Off print, a collaboration by Native Maps x Pretty Useful Co. Bring the magic of the national parks into your home with this fun and interactive print. A gold luster layer scratches off to reveal a gorgeous full color illustration of each of our national parks underneath. After more than 9 months of planning, collaborating, designing, refining, and researching printers to find the only one who can produce this type of print in the US, we’re so excited to finally share this scratch-off with you. For a limited time, each order also comes with a free national parks sticker of your choice! The companion stickers feature all the national parks illustrations from the scratch-off. We wanted to make sure this was ready for you in time for the holiday season. We have a limited supply, so grab yours at the 🔗 in our profile.

👋 Hey, David here. Lots of new faces around here so I wanted to give a quick intro. I’ve been slinging ink and making maps for over 10 years. I’m currently based in Knoxville, Tn, in an old historic church full of studio spaces. We print almost everything in house and stick to a pretty minimal aesthetic, mostly city neighborhood maps, but we’re *very* excited about some new partnerships this year (another one launching next weekend). Anything you’d like to know about our biz? Lemme know below 👇

Detail from a new drop coming soon…

It’s the little things. This adds such a simple moment of delight - the globe spins as you scroll the website. Part of our rebrand by @prettyuseful

🌎 If we had to describe @nativemaps in a word, it would be “thoughtful”. David puts care and consideration into every choice in his business — the city maps he screen prints, the eco-friendly inks and papers he uses, the handmade frames he sources locally, the national parks non-profits he partners with, the list goes on and on. As the brand has grown from David’s small attic studio in 2014, it’s shifted to be less about perfectly replicated hometown city streets — it’s more about the messy and memorable journeys we take, and the memories and experiences we bring with us when we’ve returned home. David brought us on to retool the brand to reflect where it stands now over a decade later, and to give it the same care and attention he gives each of his products. We created a suite of marks, illustrations, textures, icons and colors that feel equally at home in your living room or in a National Parks gift shop, and a flexible system of logos, colors, and typefaces that will continue to grow with Native Maps in the future. It’s always a joy to work on a brand project with a longtime collaborator, and that’s especially true when they have the clear vision and rock solid values to guide the process like David does. We’re excited to see what the next decade of Native Maps brings!

👆A new look for Native Maps. When I started Native Maps 10+ years ago, I developed a logo and design language on the fly and out of necessity. I’m sure small businesses out there can relate. I’m proud of that work, knowing that I did the best I could, and I somehow built a brand with staying power to get us through the next decade. That brand was mostly built around celebrating where you are from - your hometown - through our handprinted neighborhood map collection. Over the last couple years, we’ve evolved to also celebrate “the journey” - the adventures and memories that shape you - especially via our national parks and public lands. I wanted to refresh the brand based on our original values and new focus, so I reached out to our favorite designers @prettyuseful to help out. We’ll share more about the new look this week, but I wanted to start with my favorite part - this delightful spinning globe GIF. I love the globe as a brand mark because it’s one of the original timeless objects to broaden perspectives and “bring the world home”. 🫶 David

Throwback to where Native Maps started. This was my first studio in Deep Ellum (Dallas) right out of undergrad. After getting a degree in painting, I took a couple years to make work out of this studio, build up a portfolio for grad school, and see if I could actually make a living as an artist - I really had no idea how to make that happen, but it felt important to try. At some point in there I started working on a neighborhood map of Dallas for fun. I sold it at pop-up markets and the occasional open studios night (first image, you can see the map on the left). I’m grateful for those first 2 years in the “real” world. The plan worked. I got into grad school (which took us to Knoxville), but I also learned so much during that time, working side gigs, dabbling in other product ideas, and generally trying to make it all work. That seed of an idea stuck with the Dallas map, and a few years later I decided to add a few other cities. A story for another post…

🎅 ‘Tis the last call for holiday shipping! Shipping Deadlines: Dec. 14th - Arrive before Christmas with free UPS Ground Shipping Dec. 16th - Choose Expedited Shipping at Checkout Dec. 18th - 🤞Still a good chance, but no guarantees! Our holiday season has looked a lot different this year. Here’s what we did in the background to make for smooth shipping: 1. Switch to UPS Ground - a little more expensive, but SO much more reliable and predictable than USPS 2. Thicker shipping tubes - this has almost entirely eliminated our damaged shipments Many thanks to our studio manager @kylie.sliger who is working hard to get your orders out on time!

If we had to choose just one print to gift this year (thinking white elephant parties and hard-to-shop-for friends), we’d pick this one, and here’s why: ⛰️ It’s packed with 200+ road-trip worthy natural wonders (instant travel ideas). ✍️ The hand-drawn illustrations are stunning and just fun to explore together. 📍 It’s interactive and personal - you scratch-off each location as you go. 👌 The quality is premium and the vintage-inspired colors look great in any space. Each print comes in a handsome branded tube, and includes a free guitar pick to scratch off your travels. Happy gifting! “I am so happy with the Natural Wonders map that I got. It looks great and will be fun to scratch off as I go different places. My experience with Native Maps in general was excellent. My original shipment got lost somewhere along the way, but I reached out and they quickly sent me a replacement. Could not recommend working with them more.” REBECCA A.

Looking through our customer photos and loving how many of your dogs end up in the shots. So here’s an appreciation post for the four legged friends of Native Maps 🦮🫶

🚨 Black Friday is on. We’re doubling down on mega perks to make your gifting special: ✅ Free UPS Ground Shipping ($8-20 value) 🌕 Free 2026 Lunar Calendar ($35 value) 📦 Damage-Free Guarantee, if something happens in transit, we’ll replace or refund Grab a few gifts, and watch our limited lunar calendar magically appear in your cart. Happening now through Cyber Monday!

Thankful for you. One thing is certain - our small business simply wouldn’t be here without you. The fact that you keep showing up, buying, gifting, cheering on, means the world. Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving 🫶 - David