It is rare to be able to put a good looking map together using trite, generalized, advice such as:

• Arrange elements so that they are balanced
• Know your purpose
• Apply coordinated color palettes
• Choose the right size and shape for point data
• Place labels so they are readable
• And so on

Anxious would-be cartographers read advice like this and spend the next minutes (for those easily frustrated) to days (for those with nothing better to do) speculating how they are to be applied to their design.

But the real ticket to learning how to make beautiful and meaningful cartographic works is focusing on the details in other maps that you like. Let’s use this Submarine Cable Map 2013 as an instructional tool.* So, if you were perusing this map for some ideas, you’d take note of:

• The subtle lat/long graticules in light-gray (or brown?) with the major lines emphasized with a more saturated version of the same hue. The graticules are on top of pretty much everything else. They disappear gradually to accommodate the logos in the lower-left.
• The concentric line vignettes emanating from the shores are fairly dense but light enough in color that they don’t compete with the rest of the map. They are blue.
• Only four colors are needed for the country fills: pink, green, brown, and white. Light pink is common on historical maps, which is the look this map is surely aiming for.
• A very simple inner-buffer of darker hue for the countries is effective at achieving a high visual hierarchy for those features. To further enhance the separation between countries a simple black border line is used.
• Country names are all-cap. Smaller countries are sometimes abbreviated. Larger countries are labeled with wide letter spacing often stretching across the whole country.
• Most of the country labels are horizontal.
• There is no separate legend box. The symbols are equated with their meanings right above the explanatory text, separated with just empty space. There is no superfluous box around them.
• Greenland protrudes out of the top of the map, creating a pleasantly discontinuous frame.
• Supporting information takes up the bottom fifth of the overall design, though where needed, the table elements encroach on the map in empty-space (near Australia, for example). Note that the elements don’t have to be squeezed into exactly rectangular areas.
• The colors in the table aren’t the exact same colors from the map, but they coordinate with them.

There are a lot more points that could be made about the submarine cable map, but hopefully the argument now hits home:

perennially examine and note the details in effective maps for application to your own, award-winner-to-be, maps.

*HT Brian Timoney. You’ll have to see the map via the link, as it is “All Rights Reserved”.