“City of Sarnia Ontario” print by Graphic Publishers Canada (1955)

Graphic Publishers (Canada) was based in Toronto and made template-based smaller-city maps in the 1940s and 1950s, and this Sarnia map is a great example of what they do. Note the outdated and very art-deco border (or “neatline”) coupled with typewritten labels and wobbly lines that seem straight out of a 1980s punk zine, and then see those exact same elements on their 1952 St. Catharines map and 1946 Saskatoon map. This kind of thing (retrograde styles used out of context and low-budget but efficient production approaches) is actually pretty attractive to me, and maybe it’s even be the core of 20th century Canadian design identity. 

A reproduction available at 16x12" or 24x18" on Epson Enhanced Matte 192 gsm paper printed with Epson UltraChrome XD2 archival ink. Sold in an open edition, unframed. Based on this original public domain image held by York University Digital Library.