Shui Mei YIP

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Typefaces all around me

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When I was studying typography at this unit, I found there are of different typography around me in my daily life, such as the typography on street, at the shops, on social medias or food packaging, just to name a few. However, I wanted to find something that use typography to convey complicated information or informative knowledge and also involve artistic elements in an advanced level.

Eventually, I found it is very interesting to look at the typography on a map as it conveys different complex information by using the potential of typography. Generally, a map conveys information such as names of the street, suburb, town, city, state and country. It is fascinating to have a closer look at different maps and study the usages of typography as well as the artistic expression of mapping.

About Editor

Studying graphic design recently, maybe want to become a graphic designer some day.

Scuba diving, sleeping and sushi are my life nutrition.

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Introduction

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Google Map

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Historical Map

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Theme Park Map

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Reference

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SANS SERIF FONTS ARE SELECTED ON GOOGLE MAPS. THERE ARE A LOT OF TYPOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO ACHIEVE THE LEGIBILITY AND READABILITY.

Google Maps is the most poplar

map in the world, not only because it is a free web map, it also offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street map and route planning for worldwide travelling.

It is easy to find the use of font size and weight of the typeface on Google maps. When looking at the maps in an international scale, designer applied a larger font size and bold to the country’s name and major cities.

In regards to a national scale, upper case is used and also different colours and outline are displayed to identify the differences between country, state

and city.

When it comes to a smaller scale such as a single suburb, different colours are applied to identify different facilities and different font sizes are utilized for the main streets and small streets.

GOOGLE MAPS IN A SMALL-SCALE.

However, there is only one sans

serif font is found on Google maps, which is very different between the ordinary map. Of course, when we take the web technology in to account, the ‘zoom’ function really helps Google maps to reduce the complexity and density in term of labeling and allows designer stick with one simple typeface.

OUTLINE IS APPLIED ON GOOGLE MAPS WHEN IT VIEWS AS SATELLITE.

DESIGNER ALSO USED DIFFERENT COLOUR TO REPRESENT THE OCEAN AND LAND. OVERALL, DARKER COLOUR TEXTING LAY OVER THE LIGHTER COLOUR BACKGROUND.

‘I can’t help but love the general ap-

plication of typography throughout the new Google Maps interface. A clear hierarchy and good use of the appropriate weights of the typeface give the application a tidy appearance. The designers clearly did their best with the materials they were given, and I think it’s one of the few examples of when a good design manages to overcome its decisions in the

font-choosing department.’ Commented by by Robin Rendle on Jun 24th, 2013. Artwork published in 2013.

With no doubt that Google maps achieved to use a clear appropriate typography in term of presenting complex information in mapping.

Historical maps present com-

pletely different typography compared with modern web maps.

There is a map of Australia from 1788 to 1911, which shepherd in 1923, nearly 100 years ago. Serif fonts were generally used on this historical map. In addition, more than one font families and styles change quite a lot on maps.

Although the historical map is not clear than a modern map, it had more typographic diversity and also conveyed more complex information. For example, there are as least 3 different font families in this map.

‘A U S T R A L I A’ IN SERIF FONT. A VINTAGE AUSTRALIA MAPS SHEPHERD IN 1923.

In addition, different font sizes, bold, ital-

‘G r e a t B a r r i e r R e e f ’ IN CURVY FONT.

‘Great Sandy Desert ’ IN SANS SERIF FONT.

ic and cap were applied to enhance the readability and convey data, even though small text is difficult to read when placed over complex and textured backgrounds.

The other interesting finding is that some of the texting are presented in a curved typeface or run across the page diagonally. Obviously, it is such a big challenge to handle the curve of text and the overlapping when achieving readability and legibility.

Last but not least, the great typogra-

phy technique employed in the historical map we can’t miss out is the use of design space between characters. Take the word ‘Australia’ as an example; there are wide spaces between each character, like ‘A_U_S_T_R_A_L_I_A’, to highlight and render the text. On the other hand, narrow space is applied to the texts of subcategory. Design space between characters is such an awesome technique to achieve the highlight effect.

A VINTAGE IN SMALL-SCALE.

Theme park is one of the most

memorable places after you spending a whole happy day with your family and friends, but is the mapping of the theme park remarkable in your memory?

GOLD COAST THEME PARK WET N WILD’S MAP.

First at all, ‘Wet n Wild’ is one of the major theme parks in the Gold Coast. The typeface of its map is clean and clear with good readability. Sans-serif font is used on the map with different font size, weight, italic and capital. It might be too simple in the use of typeface, but the remarkable part on the map is the fantasy font at the title. It really stands out the fun element of a theme park.

FANTASY FONT IS APPLIED IN THE MAP.

Compared with Wet n Wild’s

map, the map of Sea World is much more boring. It basically used sans serif font and it stands in the same narrow design space of the texting. Its typography arrangement definitely meet the goal of readability and legibility, however, there are no surprises on the map.

GOLD COAST THEME PARK SEA WORLD’S MAP.

After searching for surprise in the Internet, I finally found a fascinating

theme park map that representing an energetic and fun style. There are a lot of different typeface on the map of Alton Towers, such as font family, font size, weigh, curved, design space, outline and italic etc. Although plenty of typefaces are found on a single map, it does not mess up the readability. The designer did a very good job to organize the space of typography.

ONE OF THE THEME PARK IN UK, ALTON TOWERS’ MAP.

IT IS INTERESTING TO FIND THERE ARE A LOT OF TYPEFACE IN A SINGLE MAP.

‘SHARKBAIT REEF’ WITH COOL STYLE.

When discussing typeface

and maps, there is one important thing we can’t miss out – the typography text map – a map comprised by thousands of words. It is a form of typographic artwork by meticulously weaving together thousands upon thousands of words does a full picture of a map.

‘There was nothing automated about making these maps.

Everything was laid out manually in Adobe Illustrator, from entering names over an Open Street Map image, to nudging text along curved paths to depict flowing water, to selectively erasing text to create a woven street pattern.’ Published by Axismaps.com.

Typography map does not only involve the use of typeface, it also require an advanced level of arrangement technique and problem resolving skills. No wonder why this high level art is popular and selling a lot of related merchandise.

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Font attributes enrich knowledge maps and information retrieval https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00799-016-0168-4 TYPOGRAPHIC STREETS https://mappinglondon.co.uk/2012/typographic-streets/

Evolution of the Map of Africa https://library.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/africa/maps-continent/continent.html Using Text on Maps: Typography in Cartography https://www.drjill.net/map-fonts-article-1-the-basics-of-typography-for-cartography/#:~:text=On%20maps%2C%20 text%20often%20represent,and%20readability%20remains%20the%20same.

Axismaps https://store.axismaps.com/

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Typefaces all around me

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