Chicago Neighborhood Print Series
An extension of the Chicago Neighborhoods Project, I wanted to create WPA-Style posters promoting things to see or do in the various neighborhoods throughout the city.
The first neighborhood that was released in the series was Logan Square in 2013. I have no real connection to Logan Square, but I wanted to test out this illustration style with a design that I thought wouldn’t be too complicated. I enjoyed creating the first one so much that I started working on the next one, Beverly, almost immediately. From there the series steadily grew, with a new print being released every few months. The series stands at over 30 different prints now, and it will continue to grow until I run out of ideas or time.
Most of the prints in the Neighborhood Tourism series are heavily influenced by the WPA’s National Parks designs, but there are a few outliers. For example, the Wicker Park and Kenwood prints are based more on the architecture of the Art Deco buildings featured in the art, while the the Fall and Summer seasonal prints take cues from vintage travel posters from the same era. The one thing that ties all of the designs in the series together is the “Chicago Neighborhoods Seal,” which features the four stars from our flag, as well as a cow, which not only references the city’s well known place in history as a meat-processing heavyweight, but also the mythical “Mrs. O’Leary’s cow,” which supposedly started the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.
A few of my favorites in the series.