Research

For this assignment, I conducted a vast amount of research. I first dove into the world of maps after looking at and having a discussion about various ones in class. I researched various types of maps and how certain aspects of them (population, trees, people, etc.) were represented. From here, I specifically looked at maps with trees because the location I chose to be the endpoint of my map is surrounded by a lot of them. Shown below are a few of the ones that drew my interest.

• Exercise #1:

Specific Directions To My Location:

To arrive at the “forest sidewalk”, start outside the front entrance of Hayes Hall.  Walk down the path of the Oval that is directly in front of you. Once you reach the brick circle where all the paths meet, take a right and walk until you reach the next brick circle. From there, walk down the path that is to the left of the light pole. Keep walking until you reach the road and then, cross the street to the other sidewalk. Walk on this sidewalk until you reach the downwards path to the left that leads to Mirror Lake. Once you get to Mirror Lake, turn left and walk around the lake by Mirror Lake Eatery. Continue walking straight on the sidewalk towards Thompson Library. Walk until you are past the library and on the side of the road where Townshend Hall is. Keep on this path and once you reach the intersection, take a left. After this, keep walking on the sidewalk until you’re by the end of the Rpac/North end of the stadium. Take a right and walk alongside the Stadium. Once you reach the next intersection, take a right. After doing so, you’ll see two different options for a sidewalk. Choose the one closer to the building on your right. You’ve arrived!

Creative Description:

I begin my walking journey outside of Hayes Hall, taking a second to notice the sun shining on my face and the vast number of students hurrying to class. As I start down the path directly in front of me, my vision is continuously changing between sun and shade due to the trees on either side. Once I make it to the brick circle in the middle, I have to make my directional decisions quickly as though not to run into any other people. Deciding to go right, I head towards Thompson Library. Breathing in the smell of freshly cut grass and looking around to see the yellow and red leaves slowly fall from their branches, I make a quick stop once I reach the next brick circle. Here, I take a slight left and begin walking, thankful the shade is more permanent because of the many trees surrounding me. Accompanied by a sporadic group of squirrels, I take a right once I make it to the sidewalk. Taking a slow stride walk towards Mirror Lake, I take the long way around until I reach the pavilion. Leaving the near vicinity of the lake with no near shade in sight, the air seems to get a little hotter and heavier as I get towards Thompson. Merely escaping a crash with a bicycler, I walk towards the next intersection. I notice it’s quieter on this part of campus and the sounds of nature seem to thrive. Once I reach the intersection, I take a left and walk down to where the Rpac and North end of the Stadium meet. Seeing athletes and gym-goers, I walk along the side of the stadium and make sure to take out my AirPods and pay close attention to what sound is being produced inside. If you’re lucky, you’ll hear the enchanting sounds of The Ohio State Band practicing for their next events. Once I walk away from the stadium, these sounds are quickly replaced by the revving of engines and conversations of people walking by. Approaching the next intersection, I take a right and see two potential paths. Choosing the right one, I realize I’ve arrived.

Above is an exercise we did in class to prepare for our final projects. It was meant to help us gain a better sensory understanding of our paths by allowing us to write two descriptions for it. The first one was a straightforward, word-for-word, description of how to get there. The second one was a more creative and poetic description, where we had to play into our emotions and other senses besides our sight. Doing this greatly helped with incorporating a non-visual sense into our maps, as that was one of the requirements.

• Exercise #2:

Iterations

To make the final version of my map exactly how I wanted it, I did a lot of experimenting with different orientations and layouts. The first layout I created was during a collage activity we did in class. Although simple and slightly messy, this collage was a good starting point for this project. I liked the look of word paths and stops demonstrated by their textures rather than their names.

After sitting with this version for a while, I came up with several ways it could be improved. When looking at the pictures I had taken, I quickly found that I was drawn to the image of my final destination and wanted to incorporate that into my map. Thus, I changed the shape of my map to be a recreation of that image, with specific trees throughout the “forest” representing my several stops. One of the main qualities I liked about my original map was the stops being depicted as their textures or something I felt showed what they were without explicitly saying it. So, I incorporated that within this new version and made a quick sketch of what that could look like.

I liked this version a lot and felt as if the representations of the different stops were very unique. Before I dove into drawing the whole thing, I practiced drawing different types of trees. Below are a few ones I drew, experimenting with technique, texture, and overall, look. I was most drawn to the tree to the left, so that’s what most of mine are based on.

Production

#1

First, I started by creating the outline for my path. I added a simple base layer of trees, alternating between four different styles. To create a sense of depth, I decreased their size as they got farther toward the top of the page.

#2

After I completed this, I drew my path as it appears on the aerial view of google maps. Instead of drawing this path as a line, I drew it as footsteps to replicate the idea of someone walking along the path. Then, I placed my stops along this path, represented by little leaves. I originally had them drawn as circles but after some thought, realized leaves were more visually interesting and would help the theme of nature come across more. I also added lines branching out to the trees that I wanted to change and make represent those stops.

#3

From here, I added my title and changed all the trees to be representative of their specific stops. I went in a clockwise direction, starting at the bottom with the arch tree and ending with the car tree.

#4

Then, I added my legend and filled it in with the appropriate information. This concluded the online version of my map and now, it was time to do a light table transfer and get it on paper.

#5

Due to a lack of time, I did this untraditionally by taping a copy of my map onto a window in my dorm room and then placing a piece of bristol on top of it. I traced an outline of everything I could and then took it off the window to retrace in black marker.

#6

I ran into some difficulties here, which caused me to make some minor changes. For instance, the pre-written legend text appeared too small to be able to trace so I had to instead freehand it. Similarly, I also struggled with the shapes of the top trees being too small so I had to increase their size. Once I fixed these issues, I added descriptive words to the insides of all of my “stop trees” to appeal to another sense beyond sight within my map. Overall, I extremely enjoyed this project because it allowed me to not only explore campus and search for the perfect destination but also to improve my drawing skills.

Link to Portfolio Project

Now that you know how it came to be made, here’s a link to my portfolio page where you can see my Space and Time Walk Map. Enjoy!

https://u.osu.edu/fricke-60/portfolio/space-and-time-walk/