The Origin of the Iconic Poster Series

The Iconic NYC Boroughs Poster Collection is part of Rafael Esquer’s larger Iconic Places Poster Series, an ongoing body of work that includes illustrated map-style posters of world cities, American states, and culturally significant places.

Rafael traces the origin of the series to his childhood in Sonora, Mexico. His father worked for the government establishing schools in small rural villages deep in the Sierra Madre. He would go door to door recruiting students, build a one-room school, teach there for a few years, train another teacher, and then move the family to the next village to begin again.

As a result, Rafael’s childhood was nomadic. He was always the new kid in a new place. Drawing became a way to understand his surroundings and make them his own. With sticks on the ground, he drew houses, people, mountains, dogs, chickens, cows, trees, roads, and flowers. The desert wind erased those drawings, but not the habit of looking closely.

Without knowing it, Rafael was already doing what he continues to do today: studying place through its visual language. He saw the world in images, colors, symbols, and icons. He was cataloging each place so he would not forget it.

The Iconic Poster series is the continuation of that childhood impulse. Each poster is an homage to place, built one icon at a time.

Why New York City

New York was a natural subject for the series. Few places contain such a concentration of history, culture, ambition, density, contradiction, and human diversity. Each borough has its own identity, landmarks, traditions, neighborhoods, and visual character. Together, they form one of the most recognizable and complex urban landscapes in the world.

For Rafael, New York is also home. After decades in the city, he continues to find new details that deepen his connection to it: a storefront sign, a bridge, a mural, a public school, a church, a neighborhood restaurant, a theater, a park, a historic figure, a familiar street corner.

The Iconic NYC Boroughs Poster Collection explores both the individuality and interconnectedness of New York. Manhattan’s skyline and cultural institutions, Brooklyn’s neighborhoods and waterfronts, Queens’s extraordinary diversity, The Bronx’s artistic and historical contributions, and Staten Island’s relationship to the harbor all contribute to the larger story of the city.

Rather than focusing only on famous landmarks, the posters celebrate the full texture of urban life. Museums, bridges, parks, schools, theaters, restaurants, churches, public art, transit systems, monuments, historical figures, celebrities, and neighborhood treasures appear alongside globally recognized destinations.

The result is both map and portrait: a visual record of the places, people, and stories that shape New York City.

Building the Maps

The collection was developed over the course of ten years through extensive research, exploration, and drawing. To capture each borough’s character, Rafael created a database of thousands of icons representing hundreds of locations across dozens of categories. Each icon was drawn individually in a direct, accessible style.

Some icons depict world-famous landmarks. Others highlight places known mainly to residents. Together, they form a layered portrait that rewards close attention and repeated viewing.

The individual borough posters allow viewers to explore each borough in depth, while the full New York City poster reveals the larger relationships that connect the city across rivers, bridges, neighborhoods, and generations.

Around the border of each poster, a selected legend identifies many of the major icons by name, encouraging viewers to slow down, look closely, and discover the city piece by piece. Complete icon indexes extend that experience even further.

A Portrait of the Five Boroughs

Taken together, the six posters form a sweeping illustrated portrait of New York City. They celebrate not only its famous landmarks, but also its neighborhoods, institutions, people, traditions, and everyday places — the details that give the city its character.

The collection invites viewers to wander through New York visually: to rediscover familiar places, uncover overlooked details, and experience the five boroughs through the imaginative language of drawing.

At its heart, the Iconic NYC Boroughs Poster Collection is a love letter to New York City — and a demonstration of how design can make place visible, memorable, and deeply human.

The Iconic NYC Boroughs Poster Collection is available through Alfalfa New York.