Jenny Beorkrem makes striking visual art that takes inspiration for geography and looks great on your wall. We had a chance to ask her a few questions about the origin of Ork Posters, and how she's grown her business.
First off, can you tell us about your business and what you offer?
Ork Posters offers typographic city neighborhood maps that are produced as wall art.
How long has Ork Posters been around?
I started the business in 2007.
What is the origin story for your business?
I’m a graphic designer and was working at a small design firm. I had seen other more traditional neighborhood maps and was looking for one that was more my style, simplified and modern, of my
city, Chicago. I couldn’t find anything after months and months of searching so I decided to take a stab at designing what I was looking for. Out of that design came the Ork style and I've since applied it to many more cities, making both offset posters and silkscreen prints of the design and selling them primarily online through my website, orkposters.com.
city, Chicago. I couldn’t find anything after months and months of searching so I decided to take a stab at designing what I was looking for. Out of that design came the Ork style and I've since applied it to many more cities, making both offset posters and silkscreen prints of the design and selling them primarily online through my website, orkposters.com.
What makes your product unique?
At the time the product was developed, the maps were extremely unique because maps aren’t often designed to be wall art (usually they're something that folds up and is used for way-finding), even though many people would unfold them and frame them to be wall art. Nor are maps often designed in a very simple manner where only one piece of information is conveyed. Typically many different types of information are included, such as distance, street names, major landmarks, topography, etc. Last, the aesthetic nature of traditional maps is considered to be secondary to the function of the map, rather than like my maps where the function is secondary to the design. Although all of this has changed even in the last seven years since I started, both with the increase in independent online shops/markets and technological advances in cartography, i.e. the use of maps on smartphones in our daily lives.
How do you market your business/products?
Thankfully I have a product that, when hanging on a wall, commands attention on its own, versus a product that you might put away and only use once in awhile. The fact that it is wall art means that I am able to survive primarily on word of mouth from people seeing the maps at other people’s homes or in various places.
How has your sales/marketing strategy changed over time?
We used to drive all online sales through our own website in an effort to help build our brand and be able to connect directly with customers. Now we do offer the posters on a few other online marketplaces to be able to reach out to more new customers.
How did you go about designing and creating your site?
Because of my background in graphic design and barely enough training in web design, I was able to bootstrap my website, designing and building it myself. I just wanted it to be very straightforward and simple to use. I wanted the let the product be the focus and everything else be purely for function.
What do you think an online business has to do to stand out and be competitive?
The environment now is much different than when we started but because I’m a designer, I believe very strongly in the power of design and branding. Whether it’s graphic or written, every piece of communication must be looked at from the viewpoint of a customer who is reading/looking at it for the first time. Be sure it makes sense and isn’t overly fancy to the point where it would detract a user.
What has made your shop successful?
Staying true to our brand; being honest to customers and even to ourselves about who we are, what the product is, and what we’re capable of and not capable of. And making a quality product that’s at the right price point.
What is the best advice you’ve received about running an online shop?
I think the best advice I’ve ever received is to use good images and provide detailed information about the product and how it’s used.
If I were planning to open an online shop, what would you tell me to do to prepare?
I would be sure that your method of delivery, whether a download or a physical shipment, is well tested prior to launching. Besides all of the aforementioned points regarding branding, images, and being honest and informative.
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