July/August 2013 Lite Entry : Europe before the revolution

[Azélor]

I changed the labels and added a couple of details. Good ideas but I'm not sure I like the result.

europe 1 calque copie.jpg

[Jaxilon]

Nice work here. There isn't really any size limits other than I think you can only upload around 4.5mb or something near that.....I always forget.

[Azélor]

Thanks for the Info. I heard it was like 33 megapixels, that's small...

so far I know that:

Png files are bigger so unless I have transparency, it's useless.
Gif is good for compression but loose on details, and creates nasty visual artefacts.
Jpeg is smaller than png and don't scrap the quality like gif. But no transparency.

edit : you where pretty close, it's 4,67 mb. It seems I don't need to compress it if I save with jpeg, I just need to lower the quality. The final results are better.

### Latest WIP ###

europe 1 calque copie2.jpg

[Azélor]

The file should be ok now. I edited the labels and did some changes too

[Azélor]

I'm making the map border and I was wondering if it's a bad idea to put elemets there. I would like to make a legend with all the countries on the map, including those that where too small to fit with their flags. I plan to put them above and under.

[Azélor]

The map is mostly finished, comments are welcome


### Latest WIP ###

5 AOUT copie80.jpg

I just need to find an element to pin point the cities.

[Azélor]

done


### Latest WIP ###

5 AOUT copie80 copie2.jpg

[jbgibson]

Very nice! The single-language choice you made is fine - even if I didn't read a little French I'd get from context "OK, Kingdom, Kingdom, Empire, got it." The fact that European geography is pretty familiar (to many of us) means all we need for labeling is sort of reminders, or differences from real / known history.

As for elements in the margins - I say you're fine. Any excuse to include flags is a good excuse. On paper, the margin serves a dual purpose of buffering the viewer's scan from running off the edge - a frame if you will - and of permitting a little wear and tear to erode the edges without losing information. I imagine placing lots of material there violates some design / layout precept, but not horribly. If it bothers you, just expand the whole a bit on the top and bottom to restore a strip of white space, maybe even setting the flags in a strip of color? Maybe repeat the border lines above and below the flag strips? That way you would be making them PART of a more definite frame. Your overall style is clean and simple, but a little more complexity around the edges won't outweigh the content. It's not like you would be adding a 14-th century gilded, curlicued, high-relief frame.

[- Max -]

I agree with Jbgibson : you should add more space in the border, for now the flags looks like a bit stucked in it. Also the way you put the flags and their titles in bottom part isn't very pleasant to read. Having a larger border with the flags inside will allow you to put some titles on two lines instead of one and will avoid bad aesthetic placement. Is the map set in specific historical era?

[Azélor]

The date is indicated on the outer rims of the clock but I admit it's not really clear. XVIII : 18 XLVI : 46 so it's 1846. It's part of the victorian era and it's in those years that the industrial revolution really started to change the life of people.

There is also the mid rim wich is the time of day and an astronomical clock in the inner rim that is apparently going counter-clockwise. I got my inspiration from the Prage astronomical clock. Anyway, it's more fancy than useful.

I might make the border bigger but that means that I have to put it over some parts of the map. I though about putting some flagson the sides of the map but I suppose it's not a good idea.