Ork Posters

Ork Posters sells typographic neighborhood map posters and prints, founded in 2007 by designer Jenny Beorkrem and made in Chicago. Beyond the core map line the catalogue extends into country and anatomy prints, apparel, custom canvas, framing and gift wrap, sold through a WooCommerce storefront built on the Storefront WordPress theme.

Website Design

DIN for body copy, Futura for callouts. The theme’s stylesheet loads an uploaded DIN typeface for body text and buttons, while a second uploaded face, Futura, is reserved for the announcement message near the top of the page.

A cyan accent family on black and white. Link and highlight colors sit in a consistent cyan range, roughly #0AA6CC to #36cbe2, against plain black text on a white ground, rather than a single fixed brand hex.

A custom child theme, not a stock template. The site runs a modified WooCommerce child theme named internally “Ork Posters IN USE,” layered on the standard Storefront base rather than a from-scratch build, a practical rather than a polished choice.

A long-running platform choice. WooCommerce and the Storefront theme date back many years as a WordPress ecommerce pairing, and the site’s plugin list, shipping tools, PayPal checkout and product bundles among them, has been layered onto that base over time rather than replaced.

Shopping Experience

Maps organized by geography and by type. The main menu splits Shop Maps by City into US, Canadian and European sections plus Countries and Regions and Anatomy, and separately offers Shop by Type for brewery maps, street maps and typography-based designs.

Framing and apparel as cross-sells. A Products For Hanging section sells frames alongside the posters, and a Besides Posters section adds apparel, custom canvas prints and gift wrap to the core map business.

No pricing on the landing pages. Neither the homepage nor the top-level category pages display prices; shoppers need to open a specific map or product to see cost, and a separate Sale Posters category surfaces current discounts.

Brand Storytelling

A founder-led, dated origin. The brand credits designer Jenny Beorkrem and a 2007 founding directly, rather than an anonymous “our story.”

An originality claim stated outright. The site describes itself as “the original home of the city neighborhood map posters in the typographic style,” positioning the format itself as the brand’s invention.

Local manufacturing named specifically. Materials and production are described as sourced and made in Chicago, tying the “Made in USA” claim to one specific city rather than a country-level generality.

Notable Features

Custom canvas as a personalization option. Shoppers can order a custom canvas print in addition to the fixed poster catalogue.

Gift certificates sold as a standard product. A gift certificate option sits in the main navigation rather than being buried in a footer link.

Product thumbnails shown in room context. Rather than plain product-only shots, several thumbnails show the poster framed and hung in a room, letting shoppers judge scale and color against a wall before adding it to cart.

Niche sub-verticals beyond city maps. Brewery maps and anatomy diagrams extend the typographic-map format into adjacent, narrower audiences.

Ork Posters Shop Category page example

Ork Posters Product page example

Ork Posters Checkout page example

Ork Posters footer example