Fictional Street Maps Based on Song and Film Titles

Dorothy, a design studio based in England, has made a name for itself with the creation of several movie and music-themed prints. Remember their The Colour of Popular Music and The Colour of Popular Song series on our 2012 Gift Guide for Design Lovers? There’s more where those came from.

The Song Map is a fictional street map featuring 390 road-inspired song titles, from AC/DC’s 1979 single “Highway to Hell” to Bob Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street.” The map also includes neighborhoods, parks and subway stations. A drive down “Pacific Coast Highway” will take you past “Strawberry Fields Forever.” You’ll find “Itchycoo Park” between “Funkytown” and “Ghost Town.” Need a place to stay? Check the “Heartbreak Hotel” for vacancies.

There’s an A-Z key of all the song titles on the map along with who they’re by. As a bonus feature, the folks at Dorothy have created a playlist on Spotify with more than 23 hours of music to accompany the map.

English electronic band Saint Etienne commissioned the studio to create another Song Map based on band member Bob Stanley’s musical influences. The map reads like “the record collection we wish we had” and was used as the cover art on the band’s 2012 album, Words and Music.

If you substitute the names of songs with movie titles, you have the studio’s Film Map. From longtime favorites to cult classics, the print includes more than 900 film titles that denote place. Both Nightmare on Elm Street and Lost Highway are represented on the map. The fictional city features several recreational spaces as well, like Jurassic Park, where you’ll find Lake Placid and Pan’s Labyrinth. The print is loosely based on a vintage map of Los Angeles and pays homage to the film capital with its own Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard.

Like the Song Map, the Film Map also features an A-Z key with the director and release date of each film.

Both prints are available in a variety of editions on the the studio’s website. Check them out below.

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