Cartographer's Toolkit

It isn’t April Fools’ Day but this is one of my old workshop hand-outs that came across my desk again today. Spruced up and embellished, it makes some great points about how to be a good cartographer. Or, erm, it makes some points anyway. 😉

• Neat-line boxes must surround every element. Think maximum containment and minimal flow.
• Ignore figure-ground. Land can be white and water can be white. Why use more ink than you have to?
• You don’t need to bother with labeling features but if you do, try under the line, on the point, and on all parts of multi-part polygons.
• Definitely include a large row of clashing logos.
• Legends don’t need to explain everything, let the map reader guess a little.
• Spell-check is overrated.
• Legends with underscores, cryptic numbers, and things like “z5” make you look smart.
• Orient your maps in highly unusual ways.
• Make sure map readers understand each and every disclaimer, including those that have never been tested in court, before they are allowed to even see the map.
• Talented map designers only need about 30 minutes to turn out a good map.
• It’s important to make the map for yourself not for the audience.

*Kidding!