A gallery wall can connect several map posters around one idea.
You might choose three cities where you've lived, five places visited with your partner, every marathon city, or the places where your family now lives. The arrangement gives those individual posters a shared context.
These guidelines come from seeing thousands of gallery wall projects.
Choosing your cities
Choose cities with a connection, even if only you know it. The link might be:
- Chronological. Arrange cities in the order you lived in them to make a geographic timeline.
- Travel-based. Cities from a single trip, or from all your travels. A European road trip. A year abroad. A decade of vacations.
- Relational. Show where family members were born, where grandparents emigrated from, or where your partner grew up.
- Thematic. All coastal cities. All cities with canals. All cities on the same latitude. The thread doesn't have to be personal; it can be aesthetic or geographic.
Three to seven posters fit many gallery walls. Larger sets need more wall space and careful spacing.
Consistent or varied themes
Two approaches work well.
Same theme, different cities
Using one theme across every poster keeps the colour palette and visual weight consistent. The wall reads as one composition instead of unrelated pieces.
Neutral themes make this easy. Noir turns each city into white-on-black geometry. Scandinavian is softer, while Warm Beige makes the set resemble pages from one atlas.
With colours held constant, the street pattern becomes the main variable. Place New York's grid beside Tokyo's irregular streets and Barcelona's octagonal blocks to compare their planning.
Varied themes, shared palette
The alternative is to use different themes that share a tonal range: all dark, all warm, or all muted pastels. The common range holds the set together.
This approach lets you match each city with a theme: Tokyo in Tokyo Night, Paris in Art Deco, Reykjavik in Arctic, and Marrakech in Terracotta. Keep the overall colours close enough for the posters to sit together.
A Neon City poster beside Sepia Map and Pastel Dream may look disconnected. Choose themes from one family, such as dark, light, warm, or cool.
For guidance on choosing themes for each city, our theme selection guide walks through all 44 options.
Sizing and arrangement
Same-size grid
Use identical sizes in a regular grid of four or six posters. Leave two to three inches between frames and align the edges.
Varied sizes, centered
Place one 24x36" poster between smaller 8x12" or 12x18" prints. Use the largest size for the most important city and arrange the others around it.
Linear arrangement
Hang three to five same-height posters in a horizontal line at eye level. The arrangement fits hallways, long sofas, and narrow rooms.
Salon style
Fill a large wall section with several print sizes, but keep the spacing between frames consistent. Plan the arrangement on the floor, photograph it, and copy it onto the wall.
Frame choices
Matching frames can unify posters that use different themes and sizes.
Thin black frames work with most themes and wall colours. Their narrow edges keep attention on the prints.
Thin white frames brighten light themes and separate dark themes from the wall. Use them when the room already has white trim or pale walls.
Natural wood frames repeat the material and color of wood furniture, earth tones, and organic textures. They pair well with Warm Beige, Sepia Map, Vintage Map, and Terracotta.
Mixed frame widths can work within one colour. Several frame colours are harder to coordinate, so start with one.
Frameless options include magnetic poster hangers, clip rails, and gallery clips. They cost less than frames and create a studio-like display. Our display guide compares them.
Practical tips
Plan on the floor first. Lay out all your posters (or paper cutouts in the right sizes) on the floor and arrange them until you're satisfied. Take a photo from above. Then hang.
Use a level and painter's tape. Mark positions with tape before drilling. A gallery wall with one crooked poster is worse than no gallery wall at all.
Start from the center and work outward. Hang the centerpiece first, then add the surrounding prints.
Leave room to grow. If you plan to add a city after each trip, reserve open space in the arrangement.
Consider the viewing distance. In a hallway, you'll see the wall from close range, so smaller posters with detailed layer settings work. In a living room, you might view it from across the room, so larger posters with bolder themes have more impact.
Gallery wall examples
The life map. Arrange four to six cities where you've lived from left to right. Use one theme, such as Noir or Ivory, and add the years as custom text.
The travel grid. Put nine 8x12" posters from different trips in a 3x3 Warm Beige grid.
The family tree. Arrange Vintage Map or Sepia Map prints of family birthplaces and current homes around a larger map of the gathering place.
The commute. Place matching large-format maps of where you live and where you're from side by side.
Create your first poster, then use its size, theme, and frame as the standard for the rest of the wall.