How it works
In short
Order on Etsy, message your five to eight milestones, and a draft comes back within 3 days. You change whatever you want, and the print-ready files are sent once you approve, usually within 4–5 days of ordering.
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01
Order
Buy the map on Etsy and add your two names in the personalisation box. Nothing is drawn until we have your story, so ordering first simply reserves your slot in the queue.
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02
Send your story
Message your five to eight milestones in order, each with the event, the real place name and the date. This is the part worth getting right, because the map is built around the sequence. Describe anything distinctive, and send the wording of a personal note if you want one.
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03
Approve the draft
A draft usually comes back within 3 days. You get one round of changes on it, covering corrections and small details, so send everything at once. The print-ready files follow, usually 4 to 5 days after ordering.
The brief
What to send, and what makes a map better
The clearest briefs need the fewest revision rounds, so this is worth five minutes.
- Your two names, exactly as you want them printed, and the title: “Our Love Map”, “Map of Us”, “Our Love Story” or your own wording.
- Five to eight milestones, no more. For each one: the event, the real place name, and the date. “Where we met, The Alma Pub, Crystal Palace, January 2023” is far more useful than “where we met”. Eight labelled stops is already a dense poster, so the map works best when you choose the moments that changed something rather than listing everything.
- A line of description for anything distinctive, a red front door, a stone barn, a converted camper van, a black Newfoundland. A sentence in words is all it takes; there is no need to send photographs.
- Pet and children’s names, and breeds if you want them drawn correctly.
- A personal note, if you want one lettered into the artwork, plus any short lines or inside jokes to hang along the road.
- A style preference. Some maps are sparse and doodle-like; others are dense with detailed architecture. Say which you prefer.
Drafts
You approve it before it is finished
You see the map before it is finished. The draft stage is where a building gets redrawn from your notes, where a milestone moves along the road, and where wording or a date gets corrected.
There is one round of revisions, and it covers corrections and small details: wording, dates, spellings, and small additions or removals within the stops you already have.
What it does not cover: adding or removing a stop
The map is a timeline, and the whole composition is drawn around the exact sequence of stops. A ninth milestone is not a small change but a different map, so stops cannot be added or dropped once the draft exists.
That is why the flow is the part to get right in your brief. Decide your five to eight stops and the order they go in before you send them, and the draft comes back close to finished.
How to use your round well
- Read the draft twice before replying, with the person it is for in mind.
- List every change in one message, numbered against the stops on the map.
- Check the dates and spellings first. They are the easiest things to miss.
- Be specific: “the barn should have a red door” beats “something feels off”.
Not sure your story will fit?
Ask before you order, messages are usually answered within a few hours. Buyers who
asked first describe being put at ease
and guided through what to send, which is
especially useful if it is your first custom order.
The illustration
How the artwork is made
Each map is a custom digital illustration composed by Ali for your story, in a minimalist black-and-white line-art style. Every element on it, the shape of the road, the order of the stops, the buildings and the pets, is chosen for that one couple.
That is why maps have included a family camper-van business, a named pub in south London, a log-delivery lorry, a cat called Neil, and the maternity hospital in Cape Town where a customer’s children were born. All of it comes from what you write in your brief, the more specific the brief, the more specific the map.
Questions
About the process
How long does it take?
A first draft usually arrives within 3 days, and most orders are finished within 4–5 days. That is the whole timeline rather than a production stage: because you receive a file, nothing is added on top of it for shipping. Reviewers frequently describe it arriving faster than that, and rush requests are sometimes possible, but plan around 4–5 days.
Do I see it before it is finished?
Yes. A draft comes to you before the final files, and you get one round of changes on it: wording, dates, spellings, and small additions or removals of detail. Send everything in one reply rather than in pieces, since it is a single round. The sequence of stops is fixed at that point, so that part needs to be right when you send your brief.
How many revisions do I get?
One round, and it covers corrections and small details: wording, dates, spellings, and small additions or removals within the stops you already have. It does not cover adding or removing a milestone. The map is a timeline, so the whole composition is built around the exact sequence of stops, which means a new stop is a different map rather than a tweak. That is why the flow matters most in your first brief: decide the five to eight stops and their order before you send them, and the draft comes back close to finished.
What do you need from me?
Your two names, the title you want, and five to eight milestones in the order they happened, each with the event, the real place name and the date. A line describing anything distinctive about a place, pet or vehicle you want on the map. And the wording of a personal note, if you want one. Get the list and its order right at this stage, because that is what the composition is built around.
Will it look exactly like the examples?
It will be in the same style, but no two maps are identical, because no two stories are. Some maps are sparse and doodle-like, others are dense with detailed architecture. Browse the examples and say which end of that range you prefer when you order, telling us up front is the surest way to get what you are picturing.