Reddit reviews Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users
We found 3 Reddit comments about Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
A great book is Cynthia Brewer's Designing Better Maps. This will give you some ideas about visual hierarchy (making some elements appear more important than others), and how to use color, texture and pattern to your advantage. IIRC there's a section on font and typeface as well. Additionally, Ms. Brewer has a great online resource called ColorBrewer2.0 that is helpful in determining color combinations and includes criteria such as colorblind-safe, use in print or multimedia.
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These are where I would start and I believe many undergrad cartography courses would start too. Good luck!
Some good suggestions so far.
I've actually taught with both the [Slocum et al.] (http://www.amazon.com/Thematic-Cartography-Geographic-Visualization-Information/dp/0130351237) and [Tyner] (http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Map-Design-Judith-Tyner/dp/1606235443/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367588286&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=tyner+principles+of+math+design) books. I would say the Slocum book is both dryer and more in depth while Tyner is easier to read, but that comes with it being a bit more cursory.
Honestly, it depends on where you are and what you want to get out of it. With a strong enough GIS background and some core principles already understood (generalization, for example), you might only need something like [Designing Better Maps] (http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Better-Maps-Guide-Users/dp/1589480899/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367588425&sr=1-1&keywords=designing+better+maps). If you truly want to understand things like how color works, why and when to choose various projections, etc., you probably want the Slocum text.
For what it's worth, much of Cindy Brewer's course material from her Intro Cartography class can be found online [here] (http://www.personal.psu.edu/cab38/GEOG321/321_syllabus.html). It's worth a look.
Looks cool. I'm personally not a big fan of the slanted map but the content looks great. For cartographic design, I really like this cool by Cynthia brewer http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1589480899