(This blog was updated and revised 5/1/19)

The only way to optimize the utility of a wall map is communication—here’s how it’s done.  The following steps can be quickly and easy accomplished via Email or phone.  (Begin now—remember you can start with Chat or a Form submission, as well.)

• Enlightenment and confidence about your primary purpose of the map.
• Exact but generous map boundaries.
• Content & detail that perfectly aligns with your primary purpose (with no more than two others).
• Arrive with, or let us show you, a style that custom fits.
• Lock down the physical dimensions of the map, based on the above, and the wall’s limitations.

Primary Purpose
Most custom map companies never retrieve the primary purpose of the map from you, which means you get a stock map at a custom map price.  We’ll ensure your map has just the right amount of information and make sure your priorities dance together nicely.

Map Boundaries
We want to nail these down, but we also ask in what direction is it most likely that the map would need to be extended.  If you don’t know the exact boundaries we’ll help you determine what is feasible.

Content & Detail
We quickly send you examples that allow you to envision your future map, and then listen to your comments.  “Pertinent Examples”—what a paradigm breaker—nearly as rare as “communication” in our industry.

If you want an All-Streets map with every street labeled, it’s our job to notify you if the text will be irritatingly small.  If you really don’t need zip codes, we make sure we don’t put them on the map because it simply adds noise and you have to spend more time “reading” the map.

We even consider how you will hang the map and how many inches off the floor.  Even if you will be using dry-erase versus pushpins versus magnets and adjust laminates accordingly.

Keep in mind that if you want a map with concrete dimensions of 36″ tall by 48″ wide, it may have more coverage than you really need in one direction.  We balance this intuitively.

Style
Color palettes, fonts, font sizes, the ethereal “something’s just not right,” and a universe of other things can be customized.  (If that sounds expensive, it’s not—doing things right the first time is always the quickest path.)  It only makes sense to work with your corporate colors.  We can import or manually add your locations, logo, and make any important element(s) pop.

Size (that’s really not the FIRST thing?)
Yes, we create and print both huge and giant maps.

We breech the map’s physical size right away with you, but after everything above has been addressed, the map tells Creative Force the size it really wants to be.  Physical size is the loose cannon in this entire process, so it’s always on the back of our minds.

A 100-mile radius map centered on an address is a square map.  We can make it 4′ by 6′, or 6′ by 4′, but you’ll going to end up with 2′ of additional map coverage.

Wrap-up
To create your optimized map (measured in dollars, time and ease) absolutely requires communication in its design and delivery.  Our track record and success is fully based on our founding belief that we are a “people” company with a scientific creative force behind everything we do.