This past week was all about flow lines. We were given the option between two different kinds of base maps to create flow lines for. Base Map A, as shown below, provides a choropleth map of immigration per U.S. states in a separate inset map. Whereas in Base Map B (not shown), the choropleth map is overlaid on the world map. The disadvantage to this, is that it can make the choropleth data difficult to see, since it is being displayed at a global scale. With the base map I have chosen, I had the option to rearrange the positions of each continent so that they are spread out across the map, and direct flow lines toward the stand-alone choropleth map. I was also able to leave the continents in place, and have the choropleth map remain as a single inset. As seen below, I decided to go with the second option. I decided against rearranging the continents because I felt it would look less cluttered and more organized.
I created this map in Adobe Illustrator, using the pen tool to create the flow lines. While working in Illustrator, I was able to use variations of stylistic effects to make this map more appealing
. For example, I used a drop shadow effect for
the flow lines as well as all of the continents. For the continents, I set the
mode to “soft light” so it wouldn’t apply a drop shadow for every country
within those continents. I also added a box where the title, date and my name
are located. For this, I turned the
opacity down to 85% and gave it an inner glow.
I did this because I wanted the colors of the box and the background to
have a soft tone and somewhat blend together.
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