#26339
Maps take many forms, many themes, and many expressions, ranging from the straightforward city street map to the specialized terrain and statistical displays used by scientists and sports affectionados to highly sophisticated cartograms used by researchers and thesis-writers. All this work stands upon the shoulders of giants. Without hundreds of years of work and refinement, without the maps of Ptolemy and the projections of Mercator, there could never have been the common gas-station street map, and neither could there have been the highly technological GIS systems of today. Designorati:Cartography aims to explore the origins, view the state of the art, and guess at the future of the common (and uncommon) map. Maps abstract the world so we may comprehend it better. Maps also speak thier own language, but it’s one we can all learn. Maps are sometimes made with an agenda and a message, and sometimes just to inform. And maps, in an indirect way, reflect our own image. It is, in and of itself, an exploration. Designorati:Cartography hopes to become an explorers guide to that realm.
Klein, Samuel John. Designorati (2005). Design>Information Design
#26346
Type does more work than merely forming words. Every type face has weight, mood, import, and emotional impact. For centuries, since the time of Gutenberg and the monks who hand lettered before him, Type has changed and evolved, influenced by natural and artificial sources. Styles have ebbed and flowed. The greatest type is seen as high art; the lowest is seen as avant-garde–or maybe just plain garbage. Designorati:Typography aims to explore everything about type, from who made it and helped develop the styles to what it is now to design type and where technology takes us. Along the way, it hopes to throw an accessible light on the great typographers of the past and present, and to help the visitor appreciate the beauty in the published letter.
Klein, Samuel John. Designorati (2005). Design>Typography
