Overview
This is a map I created to give as a birthday gift. Because we commonly walk the neighborhood and pretend it is an adventure game, this map highlights all the points of interest and spooky things we have seen at various times.
Making a map was actually a bigger challenge than I expected. When I began working my initial thought was to use google maps as a basis of where to put things. As I began to research I discovered that what makes a map effective and unique is the ability to highlight the most important information while eliminating or downplaying information that isn’t readily needed. For this map it wasn’t necessary to know the exact size of every block or the amount of distance between points of interest. It’s meant to be an adventure map so there should be a certain amount of discovery involved while using it. The things that are important that have been discovered already are highlighted; but this map gives the chance to also discover new things along the way.
I started with google maps to reference what roads were in this selected area. I then layered the streets on top of that and created the icons for each point of interest. Once I had the icons designed, I went through the map and made important roads stand out and used creative license to make certain areas larger or smaller than in real life to allow for enough space to highlight the points of interest. The map also leaves space, design wise, to add more things as they are discovered in future adventures. I didn’t overcrowd the map so as to not hinder the ability for it to be updated multiple times.
On the back of the map I created a guide for the adventure. It names the points of interest in case you are new to using the map and also gives steps on what you might need along the way.
