This week, we learned about cartographic design principles. We studied Gestalt's principles of perpetual organization. The six principles are known as: similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure/ground and symmetry/order. Gestalt's principles are based upon how humans visually interpret things. These principles provide a structured and orderly way to draw a human's focus and attention. Although we are used these principles to design maps, Gestalt's principles can also be used when designing a new website.
I enjoyed learning about the importance of sketching out a map design and designating an order/hierarchy for the proposed map. I found that it saved me time to construct a sketch of my map prior to creating it in ArcGIS.
For the lab this week, we created a map containing public schools in Ward 7 in Washington, DC. I was able to understand and execute the concepts of contrast, figure/ground, and symmetry much more after this week's lecture. Although I still feel like a GIS newbie, I am growing more confident in my skills as I practice these foundational concepts.
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