NACIS 2016 Presentation Travis White, University of Kansas This project was born of a conversation about how stripped down a map design can become before the mapped features are unrecognizable and the design no longer retains any aesthetic or functional elegance. Heady stuff, but relevant to a series of river maps I wanted to design. I started with two beautiful works of inspiration (Darton and Gardner's 1823 Comparative Heights of the Principal Mountains and Lengths of the Principal Rivers and Joost Grooten's 2005 Metropolitan World Atlas) and the minimalist design aesthetic found in the De Stijl movement, the Bauhaus school, and the International Style (over-simply put, less is more and form follows function). This presentation shares my process of conceiving and developing this river atlas, the final design solutions I arrived at, and early attempts at both print and digital production.

1. DESIGNING AN ATLAS
with a minimalist aesthetic
Travis White & Tim Hossler . University of Kansas . NACIS 2016

4. OVERVIEW
of our project

5. REDUCTIONISM
Represent water in the simplest way possible
COMPARABILITY
Give the reader the means to make direct,
intuitive comparisons between rivers
REPRODUCIBILITY
Establish rules-based styling for all water features

7. National Geographic . 2007 . World of Rivers

8. DESIGN
inspirations

9. DE STIJL MOVEMENT
“Harmony and order established through
a reduction of elements to pure geometric
forms and primary colors.”
BAUHAUS SCHOOL
“Functionalism through simplified, geometric
forms that allows new designs to be
reproduced with ease.”

10. Mondrian . 1920 . Composition No. II

11. Moholy-Nagy . 1922 . K VII

12. Vantongerloo . 1936 . No. 98 2478 Red/135 Green

13. MAYA LIN
river sculptures

14. Lin . 2015 . Silver Upper White River

15. Lin . 2015 . Silver Upper White River

16. CARTOGRAPHIC
inspirations

17. Darton & Gardner . 1823 . Comparative chart of world mountains and rivers

18. Andriveau & Goujon . 1834 . Tableau comparatif

19. Holmes . 1995 . World’s longest rivers and highest mountains

20. Grootens . 2005 . Metropolitan World Atlas

21. from CONCEPTION
to DEVELOPMENT

22. REDUCTIONISM
Show water features (and water features only)
COMPARABILITY
Use consistent map scale & alignment
REPRODUCIBILITY
Design must be effective in any media

27. REDUCTIONISM
Show water features (and water features only)
COMPARABILITY
Use consistent map scale, coloring, & alignment
REPRODUCIBILITY
Design must be effective in any media

38. REDUCTIONISM
Show water features (and water features only)
COMPARABILITY
Use consistent map scale, coloring, & alignment
REPRODUCIBILITY
Design must be easily transferable to any media

41. THANK YOU!
TRAVIS WHITE
University of Kansas
tmwhite@ku.edu