Map Design

Figure-Ground Relationships

First and foremost of the design priorities is the establishment of a visual hierarchy to convey the relative importance of the various elements on the map image. A hierarchy should be planned before the map is constructed, as it will determine scale and symbol choices. Important information on your map should stand out as figure, while contextual, less important information should recede (visually) to the background, or ground. Figure can be achieved by closure, by placing the figure entirely on the map image. Figure by differentiation is achieved by setting the figure apart from other elements—say, by a darker color or by richer detail. Figure can also be achieved by contour, that is, using drop shadows, stippling, or other techniques to make the figure appear closer to the reader (Figure 1).

Visual Balance

The map image can be thought of as a two-dimensional plane balancing on a fulcrum at the visual center, slightly toward the top of the image from the geometric center of the image. The addition of darkness to the plane adds visual weight that needs to be counterbalanced across the fulcrum by similarly dark, or weighty, elements. Not every square inch of a map image needs to be filled; some blank space is not only acceptable but appreciated. A map image should have such “negative” space distributed evenly.

Internal Consistency

Stylistic similarity of symbols, type, color, size, and other elements provides for cleanliness and organization of the graphic. The level of detail of line work and iconicity of symbols, for example, should be generally similar across the map and across themes. A particular form of internal consistency is interparallelism, which holds that straight-line elements on the map (e.g., “leader” lines, which connect labels to symbols; the labels themselves; or schematized representations of linear features) should be parallel to each other whenever possible.

Figure 1 Figure-ground relationships: (A) poor figure-ground contrast; figure created using (B) closure and detail, (C) differentiation, and (D), (E), and (F) contour, with varying emphasis

Source: Author.

Simplicity

A vital and somewhat counterintuitive cartographic guideline is that “what matters is not what you put on a map but what you take off.” In our age of easy-to-obtain data, maps are often generated with a glut of information that clutters the image, obscures the message, and confuses readers. Simplicity is almost always favored in visual design over complexity, even in information communication and visualization.

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