Map design and layout in QGIS

Workshop Requirements

Before taking this workshop you should have some familiarity with using the desktop GIS application QGIS.

If you are new to GIS (or need a refresher) please start with our self paced Intro to QGIS tutorial.

If attending an in-person workshop, please bring a fully charged laptop with a current version of QGIS installed and if possible, bring a computer mouse.

Workshop Goals

This workshop focuses on elements of good design and effective communication in cartography. We will learn how to use layer symbology and the QGIS Print Composer to create maps that are easy to read and understand, and compelling or engaging to look at.

The workshop is broken into separate modules that cover a couple of different core use cases for GIS made maps.

Module 1 covers Map Figures for academic publication where the constraints of a small print space and limited color or resolution require extra attention in your map design in order for the maps to be useful.

Module 2 takes a typical poster or large print map example and dissects and corrects the most common layout issues that plague new GIS map makers.

Module 3 adds a few extra techniques that you can use in creating maps with GIS. Specifically you'll learn to make 3 globe map locators, small multiple map layouts, and animated map GIFs.

Map design concepts

There are a wide range of visual design principals that are covered in typical cartography instruction including color use and meaning, symbol classifications, visual variables, label placement, map projections, data generalization and simplification, intellectual and visual hierarchies, map layouts, and more!

It's more than can be covered in a single tutorial but is well worth familiarizing yourself with. A great introductory text on these topics is Making maps : a visual guide to map design for gis by John Krygier and Denis Wood. For a deeper look at a wider range of map design topics I recommend Cartography by Kenneth Field.

To help keep things simple and focused we'll just go over the topics of Legibility and Visual Hierarchies. These are broad design concepts that once understood become the backbone to good map design that all other cartography topics intersect with.

Legibility

Legibility is the ease with which a reader can decode text or symbols. Good legibility in map design means your map is more easily understood without needing extra descriptive content.

Map legibility is affected by a range of other design choices like fonts, alignment, spacing, colors, symbol type and size, feature details etc.. In the end what we are looking for are map elements that are styled and arranged in a way that helps the map user quickly and easily understand the map message. Too many different or overly elaborate symbol or text styles, too many bright colors, overly detailed data, too much data, haphazardly placed map elements all create a harder to read map in most cases.

Visual Hierarchies

Visual hierarchy refers to the establishment of a visual order in your map from foreground to background, and the connection of your map elements to that visual order as a representation of their importance to the maps purpose.

Important map feature are styled to sit at the top of the visual hierarchy, contextual elements are styled to fade into the background.

Embedded in the concept of visual hierarchy is Intellectual Hierarchy where the map has an established point of view or purpose, a fixed map audience, and a set of map features that have an order of importance as they relate to the overall map topic or purpose. Changes in how those features are styled and arranged in the map will set them up along the visual hierarchy from foreground to back ground with important features styled to stand out and sit at the top of the VH and less important or contextual features falling to the background.

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