Geo/graphic mapping

As a graphic designer I had appreciated the design of maps, accepting them as graphic representations of space and an unquestioned truth. However, through this project I became interested in cartography, as it is the intersection between geography and graphic design. I wished not to pursue the craft of mapmaking to a purely aesthetic end, but rather to explore a geo/graphic approach, developing content and meaning, and engaging with the human dimension that seems lacking within conventional forms of mapping. The project was undertaken in New Basford, Nottingham, UK, which developed through the lace trade in the mid- to late 1800s. What follows is a selection from a series of maps generated by analysing signs of a vernacular, low-tech or personal nature. The work attempts to chart human intervention and traces of social use within the space.