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Raleigh history revealed through hand-drawn motifs
A stack of pancakes. A Ferris wheel. A whale. A saxophone. Despite the fact none of these things have much in common, they all play a part in Bethany Faulkner’s illustrated and handlettered map of select Raleigh neighborhoods—and, in turn, help tell a story of both Raleigh’s past and present.
Like a game of Where’s Waldo, Faulkner’s map is teeming with motifs encapsulating 40 or so areas of Raleigh. The NC State College of Design grad got the idea for the project from a similar typographic map of London boroughs by artist Vic Lee—and worked on it for two years before releasing it in July. “What I loved about [the London map] is it captured the vibe of each neighborhood, which was something I wanted to do with Raleigh,” recalls Faulkner.
For about a year, beyond online research, the designer walked around the City of Oaks on foot, taking pictures of different locales and chatting with people—both individuals she encountered and experts in Raleigh history—to better grasp the city’s distinct neighborhoods. She would even ask people what they thought the rough boundaries of each area were and have them outline it on her iPad.
“I realized really quickly there wasn’t a cohesive map of Raleigh that existed yet with all the neighborhoods I knew of,” she says, “and I kept discovering more and more of them.”
To build out the map, Faulkner drew from the shops, architecture, traditions, foliage, history and geography unique to each neighborhood and handlettered each of the names, drawing inspo from signs, historic handlettering and local designers. You’ll likely recognize at least one (but probably more) motifs—from the Dix Park sunflowers to the Chavis Park carousel to the Glenwood South Sprinkle the Cat mural.
“Every single one of the illustrations has a reason for being there,” says Faulkner, who also launched a companion website to accompany the map with a legend and brief history of each neighborhood. “There’s a million Easter eggs throughout—and some people get it and some people don’t. The nice thing about the density of illustration is people can recognize parts of Raleigh they have a lot of love for.”
bethanyfaulkner.com/cityofoaks; etsy.com
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