Design Principles Guide for Mapping

(basic)

MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS RP 625 DR. HENRY RENSKI spring 2015

Organized by Lara Furtado PhD Student Regional Planning 1

Table of Contents

1. Content

3

2. Organizing your components / placement

4

3. Design principles

6

4. Design details

7

5. Bad Maps

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES 1. content What information is being mapped?

Who will be reading the map (audience)?

What is the purpose of your map?

What is the story your are trying to tell?

Design maps to emphasize salient features Exclude unnecessary design elements

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES 2. organizing your components / placement Map pieces Title, Legend, North Arrow, Scale, Sources, Borders

https://mappinkat.wordpress.com/lio-i-university-creations/

Focus Reader’s focus changes

most important information

as eyes scroll through the image/screen

least important information

Balance Distribute elements as evenly as possible to avoid unnecessary crowding or large blank areas

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/cartocom/section4.html

Organized by Lara Furtado

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES 2. organizing your components / placement Symmetry Title, Legend, North Arrow, Scale, Sources, Borders

N

MAP OF ZEIS IN FORTALEZA CITY MAP OF ZEIS IN FORTALEZA CITY

Atlantic Ocean Atlantic Ocean

N

Atlantic Ocean

N

MAP OF ZEIS IN FORTALEZA INCLUSIONARY ZONES - ZEIS III NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARIES

INCLUSIONARY ZONES - ZEIS III NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARIES INCLUSIONARY ZONES - ZEIS III NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARIES

Fonte: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE. 2010. Sistematizado pela autora, 2010.

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES 3. design principles Is the map being coordinated with written text?

Map should provide support for your text Map should always have an explanation Legends are not enough.

What size will the map be?

Preferably define that before you start adding extras (legends, north arrow, scale, TEXT)

In what media will the map be used?

Care for color: RGB (on computer sceens) or CMYK (format for printing) Resolution: 72dpi (ok for computers or printing)to 300dpi (necessary for projection)

What are the time and budget constraints?

Consider how much you will be able to print, if it will be black and white and how much time you can dedicate to your map

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES 4. design details Visual Hierarchy - decide how prominent to make each map element Supporting information & background should be lowest Use other techniques to ensure the right importance to your elements. Make use of white spaces, contrasting colors, line weights and line detail (dashed, dotted, transparent).

VS

Layout - Alignment Slight misalignments produce a messy layout Do not unthinkingly align everything!

This may produce a page that is overly structured and static

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES 4. design details Layout - Placement Elements that are conceptually related should be placed close to one another; A layout with many maps with explanatory text is well laid out if spacing relates each text block to the map it describes

Layout - Balance empty spaces Achieve balance through the arrangement of empty spaces within your map layout; But be wise: Boxes often make using empty spaces as a design element more difficult

Observe the tension between the rigid boxes and the map: this makes the drawing look “clustered�. Boxes also create tension between the text and images placed inside it.

Advice: use boxes and borders when placing map inside a larger text/document.

Organized by Lara Furtado

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES - Empty spaces that flow into

- Removing the boxes also helps to

each other are much easier to

push supporting information down

work with when the boxes are

the visual hierarchy

removed

VS

Typography “The first thing that typography does is draw people in and express a general feeling about the content that a user is about to read.�

Designers generally agree that this font is childish, and not to be used for serious projects.

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES Gil Sans

Charter

Color HUE = what we know as color

GRADUATE IDEA: adjacent colors

Primary colors: yellow, cyan and magenta originate secondary and terciary colors.

CONTRAST/ BRING ATTENTION TO SOME ELEMENT = use colors complementary in wheel

Color Wheel ilustrating all colors 10 Organized by Lara Furtado

MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES Color - Saturation to change the “brigthness” of your map and make color “scream” less: - add grey - or for a quick result change transparency

Put “greyer” color in background and main elements as bright hues

VS

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES 5. bad maps Assalted by Amoebae

Uninteligible

https://cartastrophe.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/assaulted-by-amoebae/

https://cartastrophe.wordpress.com/

Skewed results

Too many hues

http://www.pbs.org/america-revealed/episode/4/

http://www.stratasan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/BadSodaMap.png

What is the point?

Stop screaming at me

http://www.theusrus.de/Blog-files/WikiVersion.png

https://cartastrophe.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/human_lives_map1.png

Organized by Lara Furtado

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MAP DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Keep designs principles in mind!

Do some research - what do you like?

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