In the book I wrote about how modern maps need to have authorship information such as the author’s name, perhaps their affiliation, website, or other contact information. I stress that this is secondary or tertiary to other aspects of the map in that it only needs to be seen by those who look for it. Therefore it should remain unobtrusive in the overall design.
Tufte talks about how important it is for an author to place his or her name on the map, not just the organization’s name. The idea is that this holds the author accountable and ostensibly will result in a better product.
The 16th century cartographers took this concept to a completely new level, however. This authorship pedestal is found on a map by Augustine Herman Bohemiensis in 1670 of Virginia and Maryland:
Just for fun, I wondered what it would look like if we used authorship pedestals today:
I sent my authorship pedestal to a long-time client the other day, as a joke, to inform him that all my maps for him will now bear this insignia. His response was that the pedestal should be higher. 
Recent Comments