Where cartography meets typography: choosing typefaces and semantic effects for maps using microaesthetics

Open Access
- Author:
- Guidero, Elaine Meredith
- Graduate Program:
- Geography
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 16, 2016
- Committee Members:
- Cynthia Ann Brewer, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Cynthia Ann Brewer, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Deryck William Holdsworth, Committee Member
Anthony C Robinson, Committee Member
Sarah K Rich, Outside Member - Keywords:
- cartography
typography
cartographic design
microaesthetics - Abstract:
- Maps are a multilayered semiotic system, and labels comprise an important part of this system. In addition to its utilitarian function of denoting information, type contributes to the semiotic code of a map through its aesthetic appearance, often framed as typeface personality. Research shows that typeface personality its connotations influence how text is read and understood. On a branded map, typeface personality can influence the connotation of the map, and thus that of the brand or national mapping organization. Choosing type for maps requires careful attention to the characteristics of type that produce its personality. Past approaches to quantifying typeface characteristics have conflated aesthetic properties of typeface form, called microaesthetics, with meta-properties of labels such as color and case. This conflation has resulted in guidelines that fail to address issues of typographic aesthetics in a meaningful and applicable way. This problem was addressed in a twofold manner. First, typographic visual variables were redefined as label properties, separate from microaesthetics. Second, a framework of salient microaesthetics and their associated personalities was created in a multi-step research process. 36 typefaces were selected from an informal poll of cartographic designers. In a web survey, graphic designers were shown the typefaces on maps and asked to rank them on eight personalities. The microaesthetics of selected letterform elements were tabulated and analyzed through categorical PCA and duality diagram analysis to determine which microaesthetics were strongly associated with the terms tested in the survey. Strongly associated microaesthetics and effects were added to the framework. This framework allows the cartographer to evaluate the aesthetic aspects of type, and to accept or reject a typeface under consideration. Such a framework could help guide cartographers to better express semantic goals in a designed map.