Kari Giordano – Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching 2020

TREASURED MAPS
Map Design from a local’s perspective
Group: Secondary or Primary
Objectives:
To design a map from a local’s perspective designed to curate information typically
not found on a traditional tourism map.
Students will:
• Analyze maps and their varying form and functions.
• Choose a local place and design a map for a chosen purpose: i.e. to
introduce a local’s perspective, to curate a treasure hunt, to outline hidden
spots, etc.
• Produce and share their map with the community.
Activities/Sequence:
To being the project, the class will look at images of artist maps. These maps
should vary in their form and function. Many artist maps can be found with a
simple internet search or use the link to the right.
Following this discussion, students will find examples of different types of
maps that can be found in their hometowns and discuss simple questions
about them: What are they used for? Who uses them? What might be missing?
Students will then choose a location (a full town, a specific neighborhood,
street, etc) and make a list of what is known about that place, what is special?
This list will help them to decide what function their maps should have.
Students will design and create a map with a specific intention and practical
application.
To do so, the class will be guided through vector image-making tools in Adobe
Illustrator or illustration techniques using drawing or painting mediums.
A sample of options for map applications:
– Treasure hunt or scavenger hunt: help tourists to find hidden spots, street art,
the best food, places to spread cheer, the cutest pets, etc.
– Map created to remind bored rural teenagers what there is to do in town
(sometimes they forget)
– Mapped locations of a community members’ most memorable moments
– Map showing a full cardiovascular work-out with strength-training options.
Essential Questions:
How do map designers curate
information and locations in
their designs, specifically intended
for tourism?
How can the visual language
of a map be used for a different
artistic function than it is
typically intended?
Materials:
This project can be created using
drawing/painting materials
or by using industry standard
graphic design software such
as Adobe Illustrator
Motivation:
Students will view maps created
by artists found online
as well as maps found in their
own home towns.
Some maps found here:
https://www.theguardian.
com/travel/gallery/2015/
sep/10/cool-cartography-the-art-of-mapmaking
Students might be inspired
by photographs of the places
they choose as well as internet
searches.
A map of smells in New York by Kate McLean
An English graphic designer McLean has focused her passion for cartography on making sensory maps, charting the dynamics
of what we smell, and to a lesser extent, touch, taste, and see. McLean uses various visualization formats to map her
data, which she gathers alone or with the help of collaborators.
Close-up of “London”
by Gareth Wood aka Fuller
Fuller drafts impressionistic
“mind maps” of places where
he has lived. “I’m making a
collection of cartographic love
letters,” he says. This hyper-detailed,
ink-drawn map is of
central London. It contains the
personal experiences of the
artist, hidden stories, curiosities
and factoids. The piece
was started in 2005, archived
in 2007, and drawing resumed
in 2015. This jump creates a
change in style and technique.
It highlights the progress within
the metropolis and the artist
himself.
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