Stephan Van Dam

Stephan Van Dam is an award-winning cartographer, graphic designer, and information architect. He is the publisher and creative director of New York-based VanDam, Inc. The universal power of maps has been his guiding passion for the past 30 years and fuels his desire to tell stories and construct new realities through maps in all media. VanDam publishes maps to 85 cities worldwide in five unique formats: StreetSmart, Pop-up, UNFOLDS, @tlas and 4DmApp all of which are highly legible, up-to-date and come in sexy, irresistible packages. Van Dam holds several patents in the field of paper engineering and origami map folding. His work has been honored by the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA), the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the editors of ID magazine and has been featured on national television and in numerous feature films. Twenty six of VanDam's origami-folding maps are in the MoMA Collection. As publisher Van Dam has directed and overseen the design and production of city maps and guides for over 85 cities around the world, including tri-lingual maps to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong. His new StreetSmart Havana and Cuba maps are bestsellers and were hailed by the New York Times and the Atlantic as essential travel companions. Van Dam has designed and published more than 25 distinct titles on New York City alone in the StreetSmart, Pop-up, UNFOLDS & @tlas formats. Updated several times a year these titles include NYC maps which focus on Midtown, Downtown, The Five Boros, the 9/11 Memorial, Classic Movie & TV locations, Art venues, Must Do Shopping, Dining and Transit maps. VanDam maps are graphic design in a sexy, self-folding package. They are highly legible and practice the art of ellipsis: Knowing what not to show. In association with the National Park Service VanDam launched History Mapped, a new series of Presidential maps which chart the lives of Great Presidents and put their personal geographies into the context of their age. Says Van Dam: "It's a new way to combine the signifying accomplishments and legacies of our most remarkable presidents with their geographic biographies. We've begun with guides to Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. For example, the Jefferson map includes the routes of Lewis and Clark, the Louisiana purchase linking it with Napoleon and the Haitian Revolution along with the significant places of Jefferson's life. Each guide in the series includes a map of the National Mall." Compelling graphics, pithy text and gorgeous maps make these guides excellent teaching tools for all ages, but especially middle and high-school students. And they're a traveling tour to Washington, D.C. and the Mall. In this frenetic age of ADD propelled by multiple screens, devices and social media platforms, we also witness a profound historical ignorance among Americans of all ages and widespread cartographic illiteracy despite Google Earth. It's the physical nature of these maps which engages audiences differently. They are elegant take-away objects. Not throw-aways! They make history accessible, tangible and portable to audiences of all ages. They enliven how we learn history and promote map literacy through clear information design. They are sexy souvenirs which put a conversation into your pocket. Following the events of September 11th, the Regional Planning Association (RPA) and the Civic Alliance retained Stephan to create a short animated film articulating a new vision for the future of transportation in New York and its region. This film served as a fund raising tool for Congress, helped raise over $4.5 billion in federal transportation funding and was shown on CNN around the world. In 2002 VanDam presented his work at the original TED Conference in Monterey, CA. Other presenters included Yo-Yo Ma, Frank Gehry, David Rockwell, Christy Hefner, Deepak Chopra, Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones. It was there that VanDam first proposed his ideas for immersive 4D mapping. His immersive 4DmApps to New York City for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad can be downloaded from the app store. Using a proprietary interactive mapping architecture, 4DmApps allow users to fly through the city and become part of the map in 4D cartographic space. In July of 2002 Van Dam was asked by the New York Times to join a group of architects and planners including Richard Meier, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman and Charles Gwathmey to explore alternative urban proposals in the rebuilding process of Downtown Manhattan. Van Dam also helped raise the bar for public way-finding and signage systems in Downtown Manhattan with Heritage Trails. By mapping the history of Downtown in 3D he not only designed a series of intriguing guidemaps and public display maps for 42 site markers in key locations, but also created the institutional ID for Heritage Trails. This series of maps continues to be the guiding way-finding system Downtown and has been honored by the AIGA. To expand cultural tourism in NYC Van Dam has worked with various state and city agencies under the aegis of NYEDC to map the history of religious freedom in Flushing, Queens. As a designer and producer, Van Dam created the COSMOS UNFOLDS, a series of EcoGuides to the universe, rainforest, desert, ocean, the Moon and Mars in 1989 for Putnam Publishers, and mapped the heavens for the Walt Disney Company (1993). He has designed atlases for AAA, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and Hagstrom, created map identities for federal, state and local government including the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau (LACVB), NYCVB, NYEDC and produced a series of US National Park maps for the Grand Canyon National History association. The Metropolitan Museum along with other leading NYC cultural institutions asked Van Dam to create a culture guide to NYC in honor of the United Nation's 50th anniversary. This guide became the template for a decade long series of city culture-guides for Pfizer Pharmaceutical's convention business. Van Dam also designed and produced the first ever first ever 3D magazine cover for Marvel Entertainment and oversaw production for its 1.5 million copy run. Furthermore, he created a series of urban drives for BMW to celebrate the launch of its Mini cars in the U.S. In addition, Van Dam designed, developed and produced the format and cartographic design for Let's Go Map guides for St. Martin's Press which set the standard for travel publishing and generated sales exceeded 4.5 million. "The stories we tell in our maps are really abstractions of reality...and they are miniatures. People are fascinated by maps because as miniatures they empower the user and enhance understanding... These powers put users in control giving them God's perspective." -Stephan Van Dam