The story of Places We Have Been To

How it all started

In the summer of 2015 we had just started seeing each other and went to visit the city of Frankfurt together. A few weeks later I sent the young lady, who had by then become my girlfriend, an illustrated postcard of the Frankfurter Römer (that's the town hall in Frankfurt). By now we're married and have two children and illustrating the places we get to visit as a family has become a very regular habit. It's these illustrations that form the collection of Places We Have Been To.

Since 2015 the collection has grown significantly simply because we love to travel – locally, nationally and internationally. You might recognise some of these cities and landmarks or you might be discovering them for the very first time through Places We Have Been To!

As a graphic designer, this project perfectly combines all my passions: illustrations, web design, coats of arms, fun facts, a bit of history, and last but not least travelling and seeing the world with my lovely little family. Oh, and languages (which is why this is a multilingual website).

What the future holds

Something that breaks my heart is seeing people living on the streets. I don't understand why life is so unfair and it makes me incredibly sad that we as a society are not able to deal with problems like these; why we don't care about those who have less than we do. That's why my goal is to start a shop for these illustrations and invest the profits into organisations that improve the livelihoods of the homeless.

Our favourite place

Our actual favourite place we've been to together might be Copenhagen. It's just such a lovely green space with so many things to see and even more amazing things to eat. The people are super friendly and the culture is very rich. It's full of great parks and museums. My favourite illustration changes from time to time. Which is why, now and then, I revisit older illustrations to make small (sometimes rather big) adjustments and improvements. At this very moment, it might be Sassnitz. Or Jerusalem. Or New York City. Well, I can't decide, I like them all somehow.

Specific illustrations

All the illustrations on this website are showing actual Places We Have Been To, since this project serves as our personal travel diary. If you want to see an illustration of your hometown or your favourite place, you might want to get in contact and invite us over. Until then, I hope you enjoy the collection.