Hiisilä - a fictional region

[Meton]

Here's a map I finished last January. The map depicts a fictional region set in Finland, and it was a commission for the University of Vaasa, to be used in a simulation course in the Regional studies. The map is hand drawn and lettered to A3 sheet using Micron fineliners and Promarker for the water.



This was a surprising but fun commission. I happened to talk with a university teacher from Vaasa, and he realised I could make a new map to their course. They had a very simple map they had been using before, which I used as a base. As we agreed with the client, I kept most of the place names and roughly the relative sizes and locations of the municipalities, but otherwise I got free hands with the map. I rotated the region, relocated the municipalities and added rivers and lakes, and some more villages and municipalities, and added a small map showing neighbouring regions.

It was really fun to design and draw a fictional place which would also be very useful. The students are now using this map to study regional planning through simulation, including planning transport connections, local economy and the effects of sudden changes in the surroundigs.

The appearance and layout of the map is based mostly on its use. It had to have white space to allow drawing new transport connections and other notes, and because it will be presented a lot in powerpoint slides, the lines had to be clear and simple.

Personally I'm quite happy with how this turned out, I think my favourite part is the additional map in the bottom right corner, the generalisation when changing scale worked out nicely.

I'd be happy to hear your thoughts too!

[Kellerica]

You have every reason to be happy with it, methinks! I love how simplistic it is, both in design and colour. Your neat and careful lineart continues to be a treat!

Hauskoja paikannimiä muuten myös. Tuliko ne asiakkaalta/opiskelijoilta vai keksitkö itse? Jostain syystä Itä- ja Länsi-Halma kuulostaa etenkin korvaan tosi kivalta.

[Meton]

You have every reason to be happy with it, methinks! I love how simplistic it is, both in design and colour. Your neat and careful lineart continues to be a treat!

Hauskoja paikannimiä muuten myös. Tuliko ne asiakkaalta/opiskelijoilta vai keksitkö itse? Jostain syystä Itä- ja Länsi-Halma kuulostaa etenkin korvaan tosi kivalta.

Thanks a lot Kellerica!

Kiitos! Suurin osa paikannimistä oli valmiiksi, ja pidin kaikki olemassaolevat - merkittävin syy oli se, että kuulemma heillä oli valmista (fiktiivistä) tilastodataa näistä kunnista ja toivomus oli että se säilyisi käyttökelpoisena uudellakin kartalla. Mutta oli ne nimet myös aika hauskoja! Itse keksimiäni nimiä ovat Hiisiranta, Siikasaari, Martinkylä, Partola, Majasalmi ja Jokikylä, sekä kaikki naapurimaakuntien nimet ja näiden keskuskaupunkien nimet. Koetin tavoitella olemassaollutta tyyliä, selvästi aiemminkin oli menty aika rennolla (mutta kuitenkin melko realistisella) otteella. Näistä naapurimaakunnista ei ollut mitään pohjatietoa eli vedin ne ihan tyhjästä, ja olen niihin nimiin myös itsekin tosi tyytyväinen!

[Ilanthar]

Finnish lakes ! Nice very nice one Meton, simple yet full of character.

[Canvèscar]

This is one of those examples of simple yet beautiful and elegant maps. It has everything it needs and nothing feels superfluous.

[Arimel]

Really neat project! It sounds fun (both the mapping and the planning).

[Meton]

Finnish lakes ! Nice very nice one Meton, simple yet full of character.

Thanks Ilanthar! Can't be a plausible Finnish region without some lakes

This is one of those examples of simple yet beautiful and elegant maps. It has everything it needs and nothing feels superfluous.

Thank you! I'm happy you think so. Before starting I wasn't at all convinced that this kind of simplicity would work, but probably it ended up lookin like this just because I had the pressure of keeping it simple. I realize now better that reaching for simplicity works also when it's not necessary!

Really neat project! It sounds fun (both the mapping and the planning).

Thank you Arimel! It was a fun commission, indeed!

[thepinksalmon]

I like this a lot. It's really clean and modern. Nice looking iconography. Pleasing color palette. The only thing I would change would be to add some type of border, but I realize that has a lot to do with the intended purpose.