With 30 years experience as an illustrated map designer he’s created maps for clients worldwide including schools, universities, sporting events, theme parks, tourism brands and more. His love of detailed maps was fuelled by theme park and tourist attraction maps from his childhood. Rod’s own maps are usually very detailed adding layers of humour and interest often populated with little characters and easter eggs to entertain the viewers as well as inform. Clarity of navigation is essential ahead of the detail, the London Underground Map is great example of distilling a map down to its essential elements by simplifying the geography, it’s often on Rod’s mind when working on a visual approach for a new map project.

In this article Rod showcases his various styles and ways of executing an illustrated map suitable for a client’s needs. What do you need from an illustrated or pictorial map, is it ease of use as a navigational tool with geographic accuracy, exciting marketing images or a mixture of both? A simpler graphic map or levels of detail and complexity? It’s important to understand how the map will be used when briefing a map illustrator to ensure it meets the requirements of its users.