My Route to University

I have designed my route to university without including any road names on the map. To show the way that I go to uni from my house each day, I have drawn the basic linear shape that I take by foot. This forms the basis of the route. There are also arrows on this line to show direction.

I have then incorporated various landmarks that particularly stick out for me on the journey. I have drawn the landmarks and positioned them along the route. I have shown the co-op, the school and the cup cake shop that I pass (Completely Wonderful), as well as different road signs such as the stop sign and also traffic lights. I have included the mosque because this is quite a major landmark in the Hyde Park area, which is identifiable and unique and I also see this on my walk in to university.

I have incorporated colour into the design of each of the landmarks to create an aesthetically pleasing map. I also think that the colour makes the information easier to understand for the audience trying to work out my route. I have included a key of this, which again brings about clarity and ease of understanding for the audience.

City Guide: Maps of Paris & Florence

Acute Graphics Ltd created this map of Paris for RyanAir and as you can see, the design is simple and very clear to understand.

I think that in terms of the information provided on the map, there is a sufficient amount for the audience to comprehend where the major sites of attraction are within the city. The inclusion of the River Siene enables the audience to establish whether they want to be north or south of the river, which is a good starting point for them. The small scale at the bottom left showing the distance of 400 metres is also useful to the audience because being a tourist it is likely that the audience might be walking. This can help you to judge whether or not you are able to walk and so makes life easier for the audience.

By simply including major road names that the main tourist attractions are on, this keeps the information to a minimum. By naming all the roads that are on the map would certainly over complicate the design and contain too much information that the audience would not necessarily need to gain any further understanding of the map.

The images representing famous sites such as the Eiffel Tower add realism to the map, with their shapes corresponding to the real life versions. There also seems to be some sort of key with numbers contained in circles next to all of the sites. I think that the colours will be representing different types of sites such as places for recreation or for interest or maybe museums. I’m sure that in context this would make more sense, as Acute Graphics have created this for RyanAir. So perhaps RyanAir will have provided the information about the specific numbers and colours wherever they had placed this map, such as in a leaflet or information booklet on a plane.



I have also included another map Acute Graphics created for RyanAir but this time the map is of Florence in Italy. The same design style has been produced for this map just like the map of Paris for RyanAir. By maintaining consistency within their designs for the same company this shows professionalism from Acute Graphics and the RyanAir customers will also be able to see this.

Election 2010 BBC News Website

I remember looking at this map back when the elections were on in May this year. I think that it was very useful in not only showing how the voting had gone throughout the country and different constituencies but it was also interactive. It allowed you to set the parties vote share by clicking and dragging the small arrows surrounding the chart. So you could see for yourself who may have won the election if for example you gave the Liberal Democrats a higher proportion of the votes.

By moving the cursor this altered the House of Commons seats and so showed what the outcome would be depending on how you moved the cursors for the vote share. The use of colour to distinguish between the different parties makes it clearer for the audience to understand, which party is which, as well as making it aesthetically pleasing.

I think the inclusion of text with the graphics is important here because if it did not have anything written with it, you would not know that you could move the cursors to change the parties’ vote share. Over the cursors there is a box with the text ‘click and drag to set the parties’ share of the vote’. It stands out from the rest of the text, which I think is particularly noticeable to the audience.

Unemployment Rates in EU Member States

I found this map on unemployment rates in the EU member states in the Guardian on Thursday. As soon as I saw it, the use of the circles and percentages reminded me of the diagram by Nigel Holmes that we looked at in the lecture.

I was immediately confused by the use of colour within the diagram because in the description, it simply read ‘Orange indicates countries experiencing protests and strike action yesterday’. Nothing was written about what the blue colour represented. I was unsure at first glance what the blue was supposed to be showing, as if it had a specific purpose like the colour orange. I think that the text along with the image could have been clearer here. Perhaps a key to show the meaning of two colours used.

However, after looking at it more closely I realised that the blue must have just been the colour to represent unemployment rates in general and so these countries had not been experiencing strikes and protests. It just goes to show that colour can confuse information being delivered.

I think that the sizes of the circles correlate well with the percentages of the unemployment rate. When the percentage is higher, the circle is larger in size. Also on the map at the bottom indicating Cyprus’ unemployment rate, the small arrow coming off the circle confused me at first. I think it is showing that Cyprus is not quite on the map and so the arrow is pointing to where the country actually is. There is no written explanation though, which can be confusing for the reader.