Nat Case - Designer
I'm a cartographer, book designer, and print production manager with over 30 years experience, specializing in non-fiction.
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Overview
Cartography and information graphics, mostly for non-fiction but I love the challenge of making fictional places look "authentic." Map, photo and illustration research, and cleanup. In conjunction with thes projects, I can also provide: art direction; book layout and design including cover design and layout of plain text and coffee table books; print management including print and ebook production, and pen and ink illustration.
Clients have included university presses and trade publishers; individual scholars and writers; and non-profits and companies large and small. I spent 22 years as head of production (head cartographer) for Hedberg Maps, Inc., a map publishing company, with more than 1000 projects under my belt there.
I especially love graphically challenging puzzles and helping clients clarify and resolve them, and getting to sink my teeth into graphic research on a topic I haven't tackled before. I have a particular affinity for imitating late 19th and early 20th century map styles, but most of my work is in a contemporary style, and I can work with clients on other historical styles (I am often frustrated by anachronistic use of historical styles: they didn't have copperplate engraving in the Viking era, people!)
I largely work in Adobe Illustrator, using QGIS and MaPublisher to edit and process geodata. I use Adobe InDesign for layout. Deliverables can be in PDF, EPS, AI, or a variety of other formats—I have a client I design artwork in CAD to be cut out of big sheets of steel, and another who printed my map on a football-field-sized piece of billboard vinyl and laid it on the pedestrian plaza of Rockefeller Center...
I am happy to talk through projects in some detail with clients; I want to get the project clearly laid out before committing to it, and a conversation is usually the best way to do this.
Clients have included university presses and trade publishers; individual scholars and writers; and non-profits and companies large and small. I spent 22 years as head of production (head cartographer) for Hedberg Maps, Inc., a map publishing company, with more than 1000 projects under my belt there.
I especially love graphically challenging puzzles and helping clients clarify and resolve them, and getting to sink my teeth into graphic research on a topic I haven't tackled before. I have a particular affinity for imitating late 19th and early 20th century map styles, but most of my work is in a contemporary style, and I can work with clients on other historical styles (I am often frustrated by anachronistic use of historical styles: they didn't have copperplate engraving in the Viking era, people!)
I largely work in Adobe Illustrator, using QGIS and MaPublisher to edit and process geodata. I use Adobe InDesign for layout. Deliverables can be in PDF, EPS, AI, or a variety of other formats—I have a client I design artwork in CAD to be cut out of big sheets of steel, and another who printed my map on a football-field-sized piece of billboard vinyl and laid it on the pedestrian plaza of Rockefeller Center...
I am happy to talk through projects in some detail with clients; I want to get the project clearly laid out before committing to it, and a conversation is usually the best way to do this.
Services
Languages
English
Non-Fiction
Architecture
Art
Design
Education & Reference
History
Travel
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Work experience
Co-owner
Self-employed
May, 2013
–
Present
(almost 10 years)
Map and infographic production, and geodata research and development.
Head of Production
Hedberg Maps, Inc.
January, 1994
–
May, 2013
(over 19 years)
Co-founder, chief cartographer, and print manager. Created or managed over 1000 published and contract projects, including folded and laminated maps, book illustrations, atlases, brochures, and maps for promotional use.
Portfolio (27 selected works)
National Geographic Atlas of the World, 11th Edition
Geographic, National, Tait, Alex
The Body of God
D Dennis Hudson
This book is the crowning achievement of the remarkable scholar D. Dennis Hudson, bringing together the results of a lifetime of interdisciplinary study of south Indian Hinduism. The book is a finely detailed examination of a virtually unstudied Tamil Hindu temple, the Vaikuntha Perumal (ca. 770 C.E.). Hudson offers a sustained reading of the temple as a coherent, organized, minutely conceptua... read more
Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict
Joan Valerie Bondurant
When Mahatma Gandhi died in 1948 by an assassin's bullet, the most potent legacy he left to the world was the technique of satyagraha (literally, holding on to the Truth). His "experiments with Truth" were far from complete at the time of his death, but he had developed a new technique for effecting social and political change through the constructive conduct of conflict: Gandhian satyagraha h... read more
Titanic Reference Map, Second Edition
Hedberg Maps
The first complete map of the world's most famous shipwreck. The two-sided full-color infographic map unfolds to 39" x 26". The map side illustrates the course of the Titanic and her rescue ships as well as pre- and post-disaster shipping lanes. Deep-ocean diagrams of the search process and other Titanic-related points of interest are also included. The ship side contains color-coded deck plan... read more
Heather Meeker’s Open Source for Business is a practical, readable guide to help businesspeople, engineers, and lawyers understand open source software licensing. Based on the author’s twenty years as an attorney working at the crossroads of intellectual property and technology, this guide explains the legal and technical principles behind open source licensing so you can make the right decisi... read more
The Secret Atlas of North Coast Food
James Norton
Come with us as we walk he alleys and back roads of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, following in the footsteps of Bob dylan and Liberace, meeting master cheesemakers, dining in the Boundary Waters, interrogating ice cream truck drivers and more. Maps and illustrations complement journalistic essays that will take you deep into the history, culture, and gastronomy of one of America's best - and ... read more
Locates and indexes more than 1,400 four-year schools in the US and Canada. Inclusion of schools on the map was based on a variety of criteria, including size; proportion of student body from out of region; national prominence in specialized fields; in major sports; and in major published rankings; and affiliation with a representation of religious groups. Index data includes undergraduate adm... read more
The story of white flight and the neglect of black urban neighborhoods has been well told by urban historians in recent decades. Yet much of this scholarship has downplayed black agency and tended to portray African Americans as victims of structural forces beyond their control. In this history of Cleveland's black middle class, Todd Michney uncovers the creative ways that members of this nasc... read more
Memoirs on the Life and Travels of Thomas Hammond, 1748-1775
Thomas Hammond
A lavishly illustrated manuscript from the eighteenth century now being published for the first time, Thomas Hammond's memoirs are a major discovery. Hammond was a self-educated but remarkably gifted writer with a knack for seizing unlikely opportunities for adventure. We follow this abandoned waif as he embarks on a long journey through bewildering foreign lands—working by turns as a stablebo... read more
Would you defy a king's command to prevent your only daughter from marrying into the family you most despise?
Buildings of New Orleans (SAH/BUS City Guide)
Karen Kingsley, Lake Douglas
"New Orleans isn’t like other cities," Stella tells her sister Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Cradled in the crescent of the Mississippi River and surrounded by water, the city has faced numerous challenges since its founding as a French colonial outpost in 1718. This detailed guidebook to New Orleans architecture―an authoritative, comprehensive, post–Hurrican... read more
Ceremony and Civility: Civic Culture in Late Medieval London
Barbara A. Hanawalt
Medieval London, like all premodern cities, had a largely immigrant population-only a small proportion of the inhabitants were citizens-and the newly arrived needed to be taught the civic culture of the city in order for that city to function peacefully. Ritual and ceremony played key roles in this acculturation process. In Ceremony and Civility, Barbara A. Hanawalt shows how, in the late Midd... read more
Inspired Maps: It's the Gift that Keeps on Giving! You know the feeling of anticipation, excitement and wonder you experience as you open a gift? This is the experience that awaits you each time you scratch off your travels on your Inspired Maps World Reveal Map! Under a layer of gold foil awaits lands of jewel-tone inspired colors. Set Includes: • Map (34"x24") • Map Tube • Scratch Pick • Pre... read more
Buildings of Arkansas (Buildings of the United States)
Cyrus Sutherland
From Fayetteville, Little Rock, and Hot Springs to Jonesboro, El Dorado, Arkadelphia, Texarkana, and scores of places in between, the latest volume in the Buildings of the United States series provides the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date guide to the architecture of Arkansas. The result of a lifetime's research and fieldwork by the esteemed historian and preservationist Cyrus... read more
Buffalo Man: Life of a Boy Giant on the Minnesota River
Joseph A Amato, Wendy J Johnson
"Buffalo Man" is serious fun. It is about a giant child’s growing body and awakening mind. In the spirit of Rabelais and Swift, "Buffalo Man" is the story of a Gargantuan child, aptly nicknamed “Gar”—who was born out of the sky in 1848. He lands in the pasture of a Métis trading post along the Minnesota River. The following chapters record Gar’s upbringing, baptism, adventures, and education a... read more
A Man of Honor, or Horatio's Confessions
Nelson, J. A.
Summer of Hate: Charlottesville, USA
Spencer, Hawes
From Silk to Silicon
Jeffrey E. Garten
The story of globalization, the most powerful force in history, as told through the life and times of ten people who changed the world by their singular, spectacular accomplishments.This is the first book to look at the history of globalization through the lens of individuals who did something transformative, as opposed to describing globalization through trends, policies, or particular indust... read more
Fifty Acres of Beach and Wood
Tom Thacher
Over 200 years of Adirondack history seen through the lens of one plot of land. Fifty Acres of Beach and Wood chronicles the lives of iconic characters from Adirondack history whose footprints have graced the shores of Indian Point on Raquette Lake. Discover the heritage of Indian Point imparted by the Mohawk Indians, Sir John Johnson, Farrand Benedict, Matthew Beach and William Wood, Professo... read more
The Hard Way: From Cairo to Cape Town
Harris, Christian
Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains
Bessire, Lucas
Nat has 14 reviews
Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality
Nat did an excellent job.
Geoff Locander, March 2023
Reply from Nat Case
Nat did a great job preparing some rather unconventional maps for my kayaking guidebook. He saw issues I didn't, and had great ideas to enhance the maps that I didn't think of. Work was on time and in budget. Thanks, Nat!
Gary Letcher, February 2023
I could not have asked for more. He made sure he understood exactly what I was looking for and then delivered it in a timely manner. When I asked for an additional file type, he delivered that too.
J R Tomlin, February 2023
Nat Case did everything I asked him to do. Did it well and quickly. He was great to work with.
Cameron Hoover, July 2022
Nat was wonderful to work with—he asked all the right questions, was very communicative, and I'd work with him again if the opportunity presented itself.
Libby Jay, June 2022
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