Chris's+Atlas+Ideas

By, Christopher Howland
 * Text
 * The fonts for employment statistics should be a utilitarian type font that emphasizes the “data” aspects, and differentiates itself from the font used for the recreation and activities area of the atlas. The demographic and population pages should also use this font to provide a unified theme for the “data” aspect of the atlas.
 * Color
 * The color scheme for the labor, population, and demographic maps should remain consistent with one another since they share the same general characteristics. There should not be many color choices on the maps, maybe 6 or 7 for chloropleth maps. These maps should not be hard to understand, especially for the age group this atlas is being designed for.
 * Graphics and Photographs
 * Pie charts and histograms would be especially helpful for the demographic, labor, and population maps because this type of data lends itself well to charts and graphs. However, photographs and drawings would best be left to the recreation and other areas of the atlas, since photographs would help make those maps more interesting.
 * Layout and Overall Design
 * There are several design elements that would need to be persistent throughout the atlas. The title of each page with a colored underline (the color depending on the section of atlas) for the left page would add consistency to the atlas. Using consistent map colors for each section of the atlas (recreation, population, etc) would also help. The location of supporting text, pictures, etc would need to be in the same general vicinity as well. The font used for the title would need to be the same across each section of the atlas, but not necessarily in the actual body of the map.
 * Content and Audience
 * The content that we have discussed over the last several classes would make a great atlas, especially for the age group that we are aiming for. The sections discussed were labor, population, demographics, recreation, industry, and natural resources (maple, cranberry bogs, etc). These sections would make a consistent and fairly encompassing map of New England. The original goal of the atlas was also to “define” New England, which I Believe these sections of the atlas will do very well.
 * Feedback
 * My section of the atlas will be labor statistics. However, the Bureau for Labor Statistics website has an absolutely overwhelming amount of data available in this area. What I am asking is, what should some of the maps dealing with labor be?

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