Mississippi River TypeMap
This is the latest map in my "Typography of Place" series... a map of the cities and towns that lie along the Mississippi River. The last two maps I did in this series (Silk Road and the Aleutian Islands) were very horizontal. So I wanted to try one with a vertical format.
One of the things I am trying to achieve in these maps is to have the words that make up the map read as a sort of free-form poem. In this one, I think that comes across particularly strong since you can "read" it from the river's source in the top left to the mouth in the bottom right.
I have not color coded the place names on this map as I did in the Aleutian Islands Map but the same theme is present with many towns having Native American names (in addition to the river itself). French names are also quite present as you travel down the river. Then there is the intriguing sequence of Egyptian-inspired names that includes Memphis, Thebes, Angola, and Cairo.
This is still a sketch but I assembled the base map by drawing the river and placing the cities on the appropriate side of the river to try and stay geographically accurate. But I knew as I was building it that I was going to center the towns on the middle of the river to emphasize the meandering path the river takes as it starts in northern Minnesota and works its way all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Comments and faves
makou0629, ZombieGeorgeWashington, blondesue, and visual think map added this photo to their favorites.
visual think map (44 months ago | reply)
i love this. real triumph to concrete poetry. mallarme or apollinaire would really applaud this clean, informative design/map. i agree it works well as a free form poem, (as a western reading, its in english) top left to bottom right with how its composed.
i love using type to represent space. type as image.
still a sketch... looks good.
also like being the first to comment. ;o)
Peter-Duke, iRockWa, terrarandom, and emoeby added this photo to their favorites.
forkknifeandspoon (33 months ago | reply)
Is this available for sale? I love it!
amproehl (33 months ago | reply)
Newb,
Thanks for your interest. Yes it is for sale. I normally print my maps on watercolor paper at a place here in San Francisco that works with artists. But I'm open to selling you a high-res file if you want to print it locally.
Andy
minntc added this photo to his favorites. (33 months ago)
visual think map (30 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Word As Image, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
TeamFALK and line.sight added this photo to their favorites.
cawahlberg (16 months ago | reply)
Love the map, so many more towns with great names you could have added.
You did misspell "Keithsburg" Illinois as "Kiethsburg", however.
cawahlberg (16 months ago | reply)
Also, Galena, IL, has one L
Mike Boruta added this photo to their favorites. (16 months ago)
amproehl (16 months ago | reply)
Thanks for catching the typos Cawahlberg!
MSPdude added this photo to his favorites. (6 months ago)