How Do Your Eyes Travel Over a Map?

[delguidance]

Composition labels versus no labels.jpg

I'm trying to divide the spaces of the map according to artistic principles of how to "compose" a picture. Those principles involve how the viewer's eyes travel over a piece of art and what can lead that gaze to linger or remain inside the art. Then I realized labels create focal points of their own since you both view a map as a picture and at the same time focus in to read the labels. So I wanted to compare a map with labels and a map with no labels and get feedback on how the labels affect how the map is viewed.

As you look at these two maps, where does your gaze travel?
Do the labels change how you look at the map?
Are there certain parts to which you return?
Are there parts that you look at on the top, but then go down to the labels to see what it is named?
Do you want to look at the one with labels even before looking at the one without?

If you need a bit of back story, the world is called Designalgia from the roots for Maker's Pain. It's a world where both writing and innovation involve Faustian bargains. For any writing to have meaning you have to trade something with a devil or demon. Innovations, and new ideas involve even bigger trades. This particular area is a small sea and a set of straights that are moderately well colonized, yet there still remains a big mysterious island in the middle that has resisted exploration. I literally just made that up for backstory. Really I'm trying to apply principles to how a map works as a piece of art.

[Tiana]

I start at Goya, as if to read like an English reader, and then my eye ends up following the curve of the path and I end up in the island in the middle. From there I read the straits, Thadia, and start working my way back to the right, so I end up doing a < shape over it.

No, I don't look at the unlabeled one first. Only if there's no text at all. Text is like brainwashing, once you've learned to read it it's impossible to ignore.

Also there's no way that sailing past that chunk of land, sailors would have no idea what's on it. They'd at least be able to mark it as treed or rocky, for one thing. There would be a reason it's unexplored and the dangerous territory would be clearly delineated as some place to not land. We all make things up, but the difference between a good map and a great map is in how much thought was given to "why is it like this"

[Bindusara]

eyes go where the information is clear at first view. One of the key is contrast. There are different types of contrast :
contrast of pure colors : parts of "pure" colors next to next attract the eye. A "pure" color next to a diluted one do the same
light / dark
warm colors / icy colors
quantity : a small red dot on a yellow field is noticed not because it is red, but because it's an anomaly in the middle of something
quality : a flat blue sea next to a moutain chains will be noticed first : it's easier to "read it" than a mess of moutains

on your both images, you have put in the middle an island highly contrasted (very light colors). Eye go there first. Then, to the purple city : contrast of warm/icy colors, and this purple is the only purple tone you have on all your map. Then to the blue city : there is a lot of blue, but this one is darker. We don't really see the labels at first because it's the same color (black, not a color i know) of many other parts. And the quantity of these labels is "average". And the quality is the same that othat other parts of the map : curved. If the label typography is made with a police with geometric letters, you have a quality contrast.

[Falconius]

As soon as my eye realizes the top map has less visual information (no text) I ignore it entirely, but I glanced at it first. On the map itself my eye goes to the right immediately, to the icon for the city of Suestranalia and then to the text. I think mostly because there are interesting geographical details going on there with the straight and the bulge of land out into the sea and a nice focal point for them in the city icon. The only other thing my eyes wander to are the island in the middle and the surrounding waters. If I take my time and really look at it for a bit I follow the labels and icons diagonally up and to the left from Suestranlia to Goza.

Interesting experiment.

[Levtrona]

without labels: center > top right > bottom right > bottom left > top left
with labels: center > bottom left > up and around

my eyes seem to love the forest bottom left and the purple houses and oversee the green houses

[delguidance]

Based on feedback from here and Reddit's imaginary map's forum today, a lot of people focus on the central island.

Is it somehow a better map if that central island is removed? Is that too much empty space or does it add breathing room?

No Central Island.png

[Bindusara]

without the island, at first i start with the empty center, but i quickly go to the mesa next to Suestranlia. Then I explore following the north coast and last the south. Clearly, the clear mesa, with a its border with stong contrast, is the main point for me. Then the blue village.

[Falconius]

I like the map less, because it makes it more silly. Maps are to convey information, the primary information should be front and center, instead it's just empty space. All the information is in the periphery. But my eye goes pretty much the same way it did before, pretty much as Bindusara described in the comment directly above.

[krostatina]

In the first example I first went to the island, but not finding much interesting I went straight on the top right area and stayed there until I decided to go check the labelled one and there I noticed the top left area with the lakes and the river. It seems like my mind doesn't care much for what's going on in the bottom half, label or not.

The example sans island lacks interest for me, not much for the island per se, but for the lack of shape that it gave to the sea.

[Josh Foreman]

Really cool AB test here. I think I was overthinking due to the context being presented. It would be neat to get people in a lab with the eye tracking and see the results. Some of the games I've worked on got that done for our UI and it's amazing what tiny differences can make for most people. But in general I'd echo some of what was said here. I tend to 'read' left to right, top to bottom, but that flow gets jumbled when there are areas of high contrast or interesting/wrong-looking features.