For the amateur map reader (someone who doesn’t deal with reading maps often), looking at maps can be discouraging and can often give one a headache. Trying to understand the Typography of maps is usually the cause of most people’s pain when trying to read a map. Looking for certain cities or routes can be hard if the text is too small to see or is nowhere near the feature it is trying to describe. So what is good typography and how does it affect ones view of a map?
Just like reading an advertisement in a magazine, each map has a purpose to get out to the reader. Using typography correctly, this purpose can be clearly understood. When looking at a map, you want to be able to clearly understand what the map is showing you. The map needs to be readable and legible to be effective. The text on the map should be in a small enough font to not overwhelm the map itself, but large enough to be easily read. The text on the map should also have clarity. Typically you wouldn’t want to write all the text in cursive because that could make it harder to read and blend into the background making it almost invisible. Point size and placement is also important. Points should be consistent with text so as to not keep the reader guessing what feature goes with which label. Point size can be used effectively to show the size of the feature as well. Only use as much text as you have to. Too much text can blur the map and it could lose its effectiveness to the reader.
An example of a simple but effective map is this map of Afghanistan.
Just taking a quick glance at the map, one can tell that this map is legible and readable without having to look long and hard. Each city is clearly marked with a reasonable size font and color and has a good relationship to the point that it represents. No confusion between label and feature on this map. The font size on this map is used perfectly as well. With the smaller cities in smaller font and the capital city in larger bolder font
we are easily able to distinguish the difference between the two. With good use of color on the text, it is easy to tell the difference between the cities, states, and rivers. Point size and shape is very consistent throughout this entire map. The text on this map is used effectively and very legibly as well. With not too much text, the purpose of this map is not lost. The font type is easy to read giving little headache to the reader as well. This map also has an easy to read legend for quick reference.
This map is very legible and easy to read. It follows the basic guidelines of typography on maps and is simple to understand to any person reading it. While being simple, this map is very effective and easy to read for anybody.
