As designers, we have developed a design methodology that works for maps and information graphics for commercial clients worldwide. This same methodology is applied to the design of all Rufus Guides.
After getting lost in Golden Gate Park in 1975, we recognized the need for a clear, accurate, accessible and affordable pocket-sized map of the Park and discovered that none existed, so we began working on one that year and completed it in 1983! Now in its 20th edition, the Map & Guide to Golden Gate Park is updated regularly and used by locals and visitors alike. There are over 400,000 copies in print.
In the next few years we designed a guide for Alcatraz, followed by three in Yosemite National Park (Yosemite Valley, Tuolumne Meadows, and Wawona and Mariposa Grove), Redwood National Park, Mesa Verde, and the Grand Canyon. These national park guides contain the essence of an adventure of a few hours to a 3-5 day visit.
As bicycle riders we also saw a need for a biking/walking guide to San Francisco, including street grades to show you where it’s easiest to ride or walk. The San Francisco Bike Map & Walking Guide was later followed by Biking and Walking Guides for Berkeley and Oakland.
One of the latest Rufus Guides, designed as a booklet with a fold-out map, is the story of San Francisco’s famous Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. We think it’s pretty cool!
Rufus Guides are updated regularly and help you find your way around, making your visit easier and more enjoyable.
Gay and Jack met at the 1970 Aspen International Design Conference-Jack proposed two days later. Gay had trained in graphic design in England and in 1967 answered an ad in London looking for “a European-trained graphic designer, girl preferred” to work at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. She worked at the Walker Art Center and Interdesign in Minneapolis and later for Charles and Ray Eames and Saul Bass; Jack studied architecture at CalPoly and worked at CalArts. The following year, they bought a VW van in London and spent twelve months driving it to India and back-a story now told in Van Living 1971. Back in the U.S. in 1972, they settled in San Francisco and started the design studio that eventually became Reineck and Reineck, and Rufus Guides.
Before Rufus Guides, Reineck & Reineck spent decades designing maps and information graphics for many of San Francisco’s best-known institutions: transit maps and station diagrams for BART, Muni, Golden Gate Transit, and AC Transit; the official visitor map for the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau; and trail and architecture guides for the Presidio Trust and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including the “Discover Golden Gate Park”, Beach Chalet guide brochures and map of all San Francisco parks for the SF Recreation & Parks Department. They also designed zoo maps for the San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Oregon zoos, and worked with clients including Chronicle Books, Pentagram Design, Sunset Magazine, and the Sierra Club.
That same eye for clarity – knowing what a visitor actually needs to find their way somewhere, on paper, without an app – is what’s gone into every Rufus Guide since.
Have fun, and get outside!
Jack & Gay Reineck
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