I was invited to conduct a two-week virtual Design Workshop at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad for B.Des. 7th sem students.

My workshop focused on an introduction to Data Visualization, Visual Encoding, Data Storytelling & Cartography.

Hometown Schematic Map

One of the exercises done in the workshop was to create a schematic map of their hometown, focused on a particular audience & purpose for this map. Some of the selected maps are shared below with their process, and the complete discussion & references are available on this Github issue.

Process followed:

  1. Define Scale, Audience & Purpose
  2. Sketch your mental model
  3. Trace relevant aspects
  4. Abstraction: Grids, metaphors & geometric shapes
  5. Simplification vs Minimal details
  6. Elements of the city
  7. Balance visual hierarchy
  8. Focus on design details
  9. Share for feedback & iteration!

Map of Kolkata’s Cultural Hotspots & Tourist Attractions by Sarthok Mazumder

Sarthok chose Kolkata — the city he grew up in — with a focus on renowned & underrated attractions for bong enthusiasts and tourists. He extensively documented his process, feedback & iterations on Behance.

Process of Schematic map of Kolkata by Sarthok Mazumder
Process of Schematic map of Kolkata by Sarthok Mazumder

The final map features a pot like abstract boundary (highlighting Kolkata as a melting pot of cultures), bold color scheme to focus on the points of interest (PoI), a locator map of Kolkata as an inset, varying type hierarchy for PoI, major roads, bridges, metro, areas & river.

Final Schematic map of Kolkata by Sarthok Mazumder
Final Schematic map of Kolkata by Sarthok Mazumder

Map of Pune’s Heritage by Srishti Mitra

Srishti has lived in Pune her whole life, and made a map that highlighted the rich history of Pune & a guide to Maratha & British heritage sites. She did several iterations on the design details that are documented on Github.

Process of Schematic map of Pune by Srishti
Process of Schematic map of Pune by Srishti

Final Schematic map of Pune by Srishti
Final Schematic map of Pune by Srishti

Map of Delhi’s Street Shopping places by Paridhi Yadav

Paridhi worked on mapping 10 budget shopping places in New Delhi. She documented her process on Medium.

Process of Schematic map of Delhi by Paridhi
Process of Schematic map of Delhi by Paridhi
Final Schematic map of Delhi by Paridhi
Final Schematic map of Delhi by Paridhi

Map of Thane — City of Lakes by Namaha Shetty

Process of Schematic map of Thane by Namaha
Process of Schematic map of Thane by Namaha
Final Schematic map of Thane by Namaha
Final Schematic map of Thane by Namaha

Map of Safe Street Food Options in West Nagpur by Purvanshi Shende

Process of Schematic map of Nagpur by Purvanshi
Process of Schematic map of Nagpur by Purvanshi
Final Schematic map of Nagpur by Purvanshi
Final Schematic map of Nagpur by Purvanshi

Map of Gwalior Fort by Vivek

Process of Schematic map of Gwalior Fort by Vivek
Process of Schematic map of Gwalior Fort by Vivek
Final Schematic map of Gwalior Fort by Vivek
Final Schematic map of Gwalior Fort by Vivek

Reflections

This was my first time teaching students at the Ahmedabad campus. While it came with all the issues of teaching virtually, I found the students very motivated, and their visual aesthetics very inspiring. It was amazing to teach students who cared about the little design details, and went the extra mile to refine their final designs.

Balancing this with my full-time work meant that I only took out few hours in the morning to teach. This made some of the review cycles much slower, with students waiting for feedback on small improvements till the next day.

This also meant that they struggled with taking out time for their second assignment for MakeOverMonday, with many still completing this map in their first week. This was a good reminder to slow down the pace during virtual classes.

Hope to drop by NID Paldi one day for conducting this design workshop in person, and enjoy doing this in a studio setting with faster feedback loops.

PS: This exercise & the materials used are under CC By-NC-ND. Students own a copyright on their work, please seek their permission if you want to use their work for anything more than reference/inspiration. Read more about the license.