Week7_Proportional Symbols

Another interesting week with Illustrator vs ArcGIS. Used both programs extensively for this map. I Learned a lot about the capabilities of each as well as some essential formulas in excel for scaling symbols correctly. I used the world map shape file from week 2 to fill in the rest of the land mass and projected from space for the key map.

Week6_Choropleth

Both maps were easy enough to start. The devil was in the details.
I used ColorBrewer values for both maps and they look ok on my screen but I have not printed to critique. Aggregating the census data was interesting but tedious. I realized how much it can effect the look of a map and possibly the interpretation. I am starting to find and use more of the tools in Illustrator. Layers and groups are proving to be most useful.

Week5_MapComposition

This weeks lab was more time consuming than I had planned. Learning new software always does that to me, like some kind of time warp. I concentrated on the use of color and composition to tie the map elements together. Labeling each county would have added to the usefulness of this map but I used my time to learn more about the layer and group features in Illustrator.

Week4_Typography

I learned lots of new tricks with Illustrator through trial and error^3. Annotation will never seem the same old boring task. The basics were easy enough but I got caught up in small refinements. I am going to spend some more time with this program because now I am hooked.