A friend of mine has a wonderful shop in my local town, Saffron Walden; Design Essentials. She recently asked me to review one of the products that she sells in the shop and online, and I jumped at the chance as the item for review was uber clever. The idea is to make your own map of your life, or a friend of child’s life. Personalising it, and then creating an underground representation of it.
What is This is My Map?
I was asked to take a look at the This is My Map collection available from the website. There are various different kinds of underground map designs with which you can make your own map. These maps are drawn to represent the course of someone’s life. For example, the couples map (£38 + £6.95 P&P) consists of two lines that start off separately and then come together and intertwine to continue their journey.
An example of one of the couples maps; framed
This is a really lovely concept. For my review, I decided to do an underground map of my children’s lives so far. The artist, Tracey Joseph, creates a personalised tube map of your child (or children’s) life at a particular moment in time. Something that you can look back on to capture that moment in their lives, whether its when they turn 5, 8, 21 or 40. In our case, we wanted a map because they seemed to be growing up all too fast and we were trying to keep a record of some of those memories an nuances just that little bit longer. The map would be something they could even look back on as they grew older.
How do you make your own map?
The process for creating your map is quite complex, but you are guided through it after you make your purchase. For the children’s maps, if you have one child; you can pick a few areas of their life for the few different lines on the map. So for example, a red line for their health, and a yellow line for holidays they have been on. Perhaps a green one for things they like doing outdoors, etc.
If, like me, you have more than one child, you can choice to have a single line for each child, and just pick some of the key areas within their life to map out. For example I asked myself 15 questions including a few that would give the same answers to allow for crossing of the lines:
- When were they born?
- What are their favourite animals?
- What games do they like to play?
- What do they want to be when they grow up?
- Where were their favourite holidays?
You could actually go on forever – but time is most definitely limited for me, as always! If you order from the Design Essentials site, you will be contacted to help you through the design process, so you can really get the gift that you are looking for.
This is my map for my two: Chatterbox and Stuntboy – we seem to like our ski-ing holidays a fair bit!
What did we think? 8/10
This is a really clever concept, and an interesting way of capturing a moment in time. Anything from a child’s life up to now, to a memento for a milestone in an adult’s life, such as a wedding, or a 40th birthday. It is definitely something that needs a bit of thought. However, that is the point of the gift. It means that you are giving someone a lasting memory, as well as a view on their life up until now. The only downside is the time it takes to create, but for that special gift for someone you know will like this type of concept; it is time worth investing. These maps aren’t going to be for everyone, and they do take time to create, but the finished product is something that will take pride of place on many a family’s wall.
MONEY OFF CODES
If this is something that you would like, then why not take advantage of the money off codes that we have for you on the blog today, valid until 7th December, 2013.
£10 off a couples map: DEMAP10
£15 of the range of personalised Metro Maps: MAPDE1
What do you think of the make your own map idea? Does this look good to you? Why not give it a go for Christmas, or someone’s birthday present?
We were sent a map for the purporse of review.
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!