Chicago Artist Creates Tourism Posters for City's Neighborhoods

Why It Matters

The venture demonstrates how niche, culturally resonant design can generate sustainable revenue while reinforcing community identity, a model other cities could replicate.

Key Takeaways

• Artist creates WPA‑style posters for 60 Chicago neighborhoods
• Posters sell for $28 each, half his income
• Free custom fonts preserve disappearing Chicago signage
• Project began 2011 as logos, evolved to posters
• Local pride drives demand; prints in Willis Tower gift shop

Pulse Analysis

Steve Shanabruch’s Chicago Neighborhood Posters tap into a growing appetite for hyper‑local branding, echoing the iconic 1930s WPA travel posters that once promoted America’s national parks. By translating each community’s unique landmarks—like the Superdawg stand in Norwood Park or the Portage Theater in Portage Park—into bold, graphic compositions, Shanabruch creates collectible art that doubles as civic storytelling. This approach not only fills a visual gap left by mainstream tourism marketing, which often overlooks Chicago’s lesser‑known districts, but also cultivates a sense of ownership among residents who see their neighborhoods celebrated on high‑quality prints.

Beyond the posters, Shanabruch’s free, signage‑inspired fonts serve as a digital preservation effort for Chicago’s disappearing visual culture. Fonts such as Comiskey and Tap Room capture the typographic character of historic storefronts, allowing designers worldwide to embed a piece of the city’s heritage into contemporary projects. By releasing these typefaces under an open‑access model, he encourages community participation and ensures that iconic lettering—often lost to redevelopment—remains accessible, reinforcing the city’s design legacy.

Economically, the venture illustrates how niche creative enterprises can achieve profitability without corporate backing. With each poster priced at $28, Shanabruch has turned a hobby into a revenue stream that now represents half of his earnings, supporting his freelance design work and enabling collaborations with institutions like Preservation Chicago. The model underscores the commercial potential of culturally specific art, suggesting that other municipalities could foster similar initiatives to boost local economies, preserve heritage, and strengthen neighborhood identity.