Ways to Talk About Places

Since we're doing a mapping project in Typography, Kristin Hughes gave a lecture on ways to talk about places.

Some ways to talk about places:

• Signs as maps. Communicates spacial relationships.
• Interpretive Maps. Show ground and tactical areas. Defines places by shape, tone, pattern, repetition.
• Walkabout. Place as a rite of passage.
• Annotated Schematic Map. Gives a sense of place and orientation.
• Panoramic Perspective. Typically shows landmarks from a bird's eye view.
• Word Collage.
• Image Map. A place through pictures.
• Symbolic Diagrams. Shows abstract information like past, present, and future.
• Soundscapes. Place through sounds.

All of this is related to what Ken Hiebert calls experience mapping. Experience Mapping has several key components:

• Wayfinding. Providing directions to relevant information.
• Paths and Points. Paths are routes along points. Points are events, places, etc.
• Landmarks. Landmarks turn the generic into the specific. "Make a left at the ice cream store."
• Grid. Shows the underlying structure of a place.
• Key. Explains.

Originally posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2004