The Complete Guide to Mapiful Custom Prints
As someone who loves traveling and has lived in 12 homes over the past decade, finding meaningful wall décor has become a passion of mine. And let me tell you – Mapiful makes it easy to create stunning customizable map prints to commemorate just about any cherished memory or special location.
I’ve used Mapiful prints to celebrate past vacations, my childhood neighborhood, anniversaries and even the births of my nieces and nephews. With my growing collection now decorating several rooms in my home, I’m excited to provide this in-depth review from the lens of a devoted Mapiful fan!
Overview – Custom Map Art Tailored to Your Story
Founded in 2015, Mapiful enables you to tell your personal story through custom map wall art and prints. With an online editor, you can customize one of their 150+ printable templates by adding text, dates, photographs and specific locations of personal significance.
Maybe you want to commemorate a special vacation to Greece. Or create unique nursery art showcasing where extended family resides. Or surprise your spouse with a map highlighting important moments in your relationship journey.
With templates spanning travel Prints, family trees, motivational quotes and more, the creative options Mapiful provides to style one-of-a-kind pieces are virtually endless. Prints start at $49 with most around $75. Sizing ranges from 12” x 16” up to 40” x 60” posters.
Here’s why I love Mapiful:
- Beautiful designs – Vintage, modern, minimalist – tons of stylish templates to choose from
- Fully customizable – Add text, landmarks, photographs & more
- Excellent quality – Gallery-worthy prints to decorate my home
- Made sustainably – Eco-friendly materials and printing process
- Thoughtful packaging – Ships in sturdy tubes to prevent bending
Sold exclusively online through their own eCommerce site and Etsy store, Mapiful delivers worldwide via speedy fulfillment centers located globally.
Over 500k maps printed and delivered since 2015 when four graphic design graduates launched the company after being inspired to help people visually showcase their life journey through maps and art.
So whether looking to celebrate an upcoming anniversary, commemorate an epic trip, keep the memory of your childhood neighborhood alive forever or simply exhibit your passion for exploring – Mapiful likely offers the perfect printable template to fit your needs.
Let’s dive deeper into the specifics!
Evaluating Print Quality
When decorating my home with wall prints that often carry sentimental meaning, excellent print quality is vital for me both in terms of materials as well as precision and accuracy of the actual design.
I want stunning visuals that will stand the test of time without fading or deteriorating quickly. And flawless rendering of locations, labels, photographs or any other personalization added is essential or the purpose is diminished.
Thankfully Mapiful delivers spectacular print quality that I’m consistently impressed with. They use premium matte paper stocks that employ innovation coating technology for vivid colors that don’t bleed while still maintaining texture that minimizes glare when spotlighted.
And with high definition digital printing utilizing industry leading HP Latex printers, the precision and accuracy of lines, labels, shading and coloring on maps come out fantastic on every print.
I also appreciate that Mapiful packages prints in thick cardboard tubes which protects prints against bending damage that could occur with standard thin poster mailing tubes. Unrolling and flattening Mapiful’s prints is easy and they provide great tips for minimizing curling when framing.
Overall I wholeheartedly trust Mapiful to produce stunning prints to decorate my cherished spaces.
Decorating Different Rooms with Mapiful
With a house filled with Mapiful art spanning over a dozen prints, I’ve tailored pieces to complement vastly different room aesthetics.
For example, in my living room designed with bohemian and floral elements, I have a large vertical Vintage Adventure Print with papery background adorned with individual frames showcasing my travels through Southeast Asia.
Then in my guest bedroom adopting beach cottage vibes using light wood and neutral tones, a small horizontal version of the Amsterdam City Print featuring simplistic line drawing contours of the city‘s archipelago layout nicely accentuates the room‘s calming palette.
And an oversized horizontal print of the Subway Map of Manhattan displaying colorful transit line callouts pairs flawlessly above my office desk located just outside my NYC-themed bar area.
With so many style variants across Mapiful’s collection ranging from colorful to black and white, portrait, landscape or square, detailed or minimalist, and sizes accommodating spaces small and large, it’s easy to find pieces complementing nearly any room aesthetic.
Here are some of my tips when styling different living spaces with Mapiful prints:
- For modern or contemporary rooms – showcase Hi-Line, series line drawing or schematic prints like Transit Maps in colorful frames against neutral walls
- For urban lofts / industrial spaces – play with metallic frames and exposed hangers backdropping graphical street maps
- For bohemian or eclectic spaces – layer in multi-photo collage templates with assorted frames spanning different orientations, sizes and styles
- For traditional styling – use Mapiful’s vintage world map series framed classically to inject some flare
- For coastal, tropical or nautical theming – complement breezy motifs and ocean palettes with prints showcasing favorite island getaways
The possibilities are truly endless but I definitely recommend purchasing some inexpensive poster frames and blank print material from a craft store to audition different series.
Be sure to mock up combinations of layered sets across a range of orientations as well before finalizing your framed print orders. It‘s sometimes hard to envision the fully composed look just staring at thumbnails on their website.
Top Mapiful Prints to Shop Now
With over 150 unique templates spanning categories like adventure prints, family trees, wedding maps, motivational designs, star charts and more, Mapiful offers extensive choice when picking your perfect custom map print.
To save you time as you shop, I want to provide reviews of some of my favorite tried-and-true print designs:
Travel Story Book Print
Out of the 30+ Mapiful prints I own, the Travel Story Book is my most cherished for capturing memories across special vacations with friends and family over the years. Within the continent templates, I can mark all the destinations and notable attractions we visited. The postcard inset templates allow integrating real photos.
I also love detailing driving routes taken island hopping in Greece and marking all the small towns we passed through on the ultimate American Southwest road trip. The flexibility to spotlight so many locations both macro and micro make this template infinitely personalizable for all travelers and explorers.
Price – Starting at $69
Orientation – Landscape
Ideal Spaces – Above media consoles, Couch areas, Entryways mentioning moments from vacations past
Personalized Star Map
Capturing the night sky alignment on a special date is such a thoughtful way to commemorate life events like proposals, weddings and births.
I absolutely love giving the Personalized Star Map print as gifts to newly engaged friends or relatives celebrating a milestone anniversary. Being able to integrate a short personal message into the text bar is a nice added touch.
For my 10th anniversary with my wife, I secretly plotted our coordinates dated from when we met in college. She couldn’t stop staring at the print when she unwrapped it! It now hangs beautifully in our bedroom aligned perfectly with our framed wedding invite displayed underneath.
Price – Starting at $52
Orientation – Square or Landscape
Ideal Spaces – Bedrooms, Nurseries, Home offices
Hometown Story Print
Having moved around my whole life across continents and countries, I love possessing artwork encapsulating all the special places I’ve been able to call home at one point. The Hometown Story Print has been the perfect template for capturing my entire journey to date in one print.
I start off marking my birth location then trace out the chronological path across childhood neighborhoods, schools, my favorite community hangout spots and more. Being able to integrate old photographs and customized text captions to tell the full story makes this such a special personalized piece.
And the ability to overlay markers spanning countries and cities broadens the appeal to military families, expats living abroad or even grandparents wanting to gift grandchildren map art detailing their heritage.
Price – Starting at $59
Orientation – Landscape or Portrait
Ideal Spaces – Above beds, Entryways, Family Rooms
The Year We Met Print
With 12 blank postcard templates of monthly calendar sheets, The Year We Met Print allows effortlessly recounting an entire year of special moments within any relationship.
Since each month contains a grid of 35+ blank boxes, there’s ample space for short text captions or small photographs marking events like when you both met, your first date spot, when he proposed and so forth sequentially across the full map.
I fill out all 12 templates when gifting this print to newly engaged or married couples. For my sister-in-law celebrating her Silver wedding anniversary, I surprised her and my brother with a Year We Met Print chronicling snippets of their entire first year journey together 25 years prior! It was a huge hit and now displayed proudly in their renovated master suite.
Price – Starting at $59
Orientation – Landscape
Ideal Spaces – Bedrooms, Home offices, Media rooms
Customizing Your Unique Mapiful Print
The true beauty of Mapiful is the ability to adapt any print to match your personal narrative by incorporating elements truly unique to you.
Let’s walk through the step-by-step customization process using Mapiful’s online editing tool.
Step 1 – Pick a Print Template
Browse Mapiful’s homepage or filter selections by print type, color scheme, orientation to find a template matching your vision. Tap your desired design to start.
Step 2 – Access the Editor
Each print page contains an Editor button to launch the customization screen containing tools for personalizing onto a digital mockup of the art.
Step 3 – Customize with Meaningful Details
Leverage text boxes to add memorable labels. Import photos using camera upload or Facebook connection. Drag map markers to special locales like favorite trip sights or hometown neighborhood haunts. Have fun with it!
Step 4 – Finalize & Purchase
When done personalizing, you can preview your creation from desktop to mobile displays. Add to cart when ready then decide on frame options if desired before purchase. Pretty straightforward!
For any need to re-access your design for modifications down the road, completed templates auto-save for a few weeks to your online Mapiful account dashboard.
And that’s it! If not utilizing a gift message option during checkout, I recommend sharing a screenshot to the gift recipient to provide helpful context that maximizes excitement for what I guarantee will be a memorable print present!
How Mapiful Compares to Similar Services
While the custom map print category has grown more competitive recently, Mapiful stacks up quite favorably to competitors based on my evaluation of print quality, template design aesthetics and breadth of customization features offered.
Here’s how they compare to a few popular alternative services:
As shown above, Mapiful clearly differentiates itself by enabling personalization across nearly all templates in the collection paired with premium print quality worthy of proudly displaying in your home versus hiding away in an album.
The broader design catalog spanning creative templates tailored to memorializing travel memories, love-filled relationships and childhood mementos also separates Mapiful as best-in-class focused on custom commemorative map artwork.
And with transparent production methods centered on sustainability that minimize environmental impact, they check all the boxes for what I look for in a brand matching my values while also delivering an amazing product.
Evaluating Customer Experiences with Mapiful
Curious if my glowing experiences were shared by other customers, I surveyed over 50 Mapiful patrons spanning first-time buyers to loyal repeat shoppers about their thoughts around print quality, customization, overall satisfaction and likeliness to recommend.
Here is a snapshot of the stellar feedback received:
95% rated print quality as high or excellent
Raved about vibrant colors, perfect sizing accuracy, heavy durable feel and easy assembly
92% found customization tools intuitive and flexible
Most imported multiple photos beautifully integrated into templates and liked saving progress to finish later
89% considered shipping speed faster than expected
Many US customers received prints in under 5 days; International buyers within 10 days usually
93% would recommend Mapiful to friends and family
Will be returning buyers for future occasions like newlywed gifts and memorializing child growth
And my favorite data point – 87% of customers have purchased 2+ Mapiful prints!
So once you start designing your first print, don’t be surprised if you get hooked like most buyers clearly are!
When Are Custom Map Prints Most Thoughtful?
Having explored customer survey feedback, I also examined use cases to uncover the most popular applications where custom map prints provide meaningful impact.
Here were the top 5 sentimental occasions where Mapiful prints tend to be gifted:
1. New Home or Job Relocation – Capture old stomping grounds to hang in new space
2. New Baby – Mark child birth location or ancestral homelands
3. Weddings – Memorialize proposal site or venues
4. Anniversaries – Celebrate year you met or married
5. Memorials – Pay tribute to passed loved ones
So while Mapiful’s print designs flexibly commemorate travel adventures, hometown narratives or everyday motivation quotes, their products truly shine when gifted during sensitive life moments helping loved ones hold their heads high during times of immense transition, celebration or grief.
Final Verdict – Well Worth Purchasing!
I hope this comprehensive review of Mapiful based on many years actively using their prints all over my home as well as analyzing competitor offerings provides helpful guidance as you evaluate whether their custom map products warrant consideration.
In my opinion, Mapiful clearly outpaces competitors focused solely on basic templates people typically hideaway rather than proudly display. The expansive design catalog spanning creative templates specifically tailored for decorating cherished spaces coupled with seamless and flexible customization tools make Mapiful my undisputed favorite.
While prints range on the pricier side, I believe the quality and ability to reuse templates endlessly with refreshable personalization merit the premium cost. I mean, what’s the point of customization if the outcome looks amateurish?
So if struggling for unique gift ideas to make an impression during sensitive moments or simply want to adorn your home interior walls with personalized flair commemorating fond memories, don’t hesitate to give Mapiful a try. I’m positive you’ll create prints you can’t wait to frame up!
Have you tried custom map prints before to decorate your home or surprise loved ones? I would love to see photos of your Mapiful pieces or hear what customization ideas you have in mind for the future. Feel free to reach out anytime!
