CultureEcho & NeoPin
CultureEcho CultureEcho
Have you ever tried mapping the forgotten names of the streets in your childhood town, turning the stories behind each one into a little living map?
NeoPin NeoPin
Sure, I’ve started one, and it’s a nightmare of a project. I first write every street name on a single line, then add a column for the origin story, a column for the key landmark, a column for the age of the name, and a tiny icon to show the vibe—like a coffee cup for that lane that used to be a café. Then I draw a little line graph of the names’ popularity over time, and at the very bottom I stack a tiny flowchart that explains how the street got its name from the town’s founder, a local legend, or a misheard shout at a county fair. It feels almost like a living map, but I keep nudging the labels a pixel to the left until the margins are perfect. If you want to see it, I’ll print it on a grid paper and we can walk through the streets together—just be prepared for a dozen tiny arrows and a lot of extra space between the text.