Every once in a while, you get a commission that sounds like a dream come true. The brief was concise, and the project super-secret; since Jim, Stamen's General Manager, wanted to surprise both team and clients with a gift that reflected 2020, with all its socially distanced meetings and WFH.

Since Stamen is a studio dedicated to data visualization, –and maps are part important of their work, I suggested making an illustrated map showing the team's location.

By this point in time, the team was scattered all around, mainly in the United States, primarily in the Bay Area, but in other states and countries as well, like Washington, New York, Virginia, Colorado, Australia, or The Netherlands.

The map depicts an imagined territory –with one main island–slightly based on real geographic features showing 32 Stamen's teammates' location. Geography buffs might recognize features like the San Francisco Bay, The Puget Sound, Cape Cod, Delmarva, The Tasman Sea, or the West Frisian Islands.

Some landmarks serve as an extra reference, like the Sidney Opera House, the Sutro Tower, the Space Needle, the Empire State Building, the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, some leaning houses, a steamboat, etc.

The result is a map that we decided to call the Stamen 2020 Projection. A fictional land where we all have lived as a team during this pandemic.