Page 6 - Thematic Mapping Excerpt

Donkeys and elephants
Logos as proportional symbols
A map often makes more sense to a reader when it uses colours or symbols that relate to the theme. This book consistently uses red and blue as the base colour scheme because these colours relate to the two parties. People associate red with the Republican Party and blue with the Democratic Party. Symbols are used as a graphical shorthand to connote meaning, and the use of a stylised donkey for the Democratic Party and elephant for the Republican Party is widely understood.
These two animals long have been associated with politics in the United States, and their origins can be traced to the 19th century. During the 1828 presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson, opponents often referred to him as a ‘jackass’’ because of his perceived stubbornness. Rather than react to this assumed affront to his character, Jackson instead had pictures of a donkey placed on his promotional posters. Jackson won the election, and by 1870, the left-facing donkey symbol had been popularised by political cartoonist Thomas Nast for the Democratic Party en masse.
The Republican Party elephant first was seen in political cartoons
during the Civil War as a reference to the phrase ‘seeing the
elephant’, meaning to experience combat. Nast went on to use
it an 1874 cartoon in Harper’s Weekly as a metaphor for ‘the
Republican vote’, and within a few short years, other cartoonists
also were using the right-facing elephant to symbolise the party.
Te s he n d o t i Depending on your political perspective, the donkey might be
e n a mp. Te onl s e e considered hard-working, humble, and dedicated or a symbol
se o us. Wn u’e y g of stubbornness. The elephant might be seen to represent
t e f eh ml e es n intelligence, dignity, and strength, though opponents might prefer
he ae , t n a mp e to see it as a circus animal. This illustrates clearly that each of us
brings bias to interpreting symbology and maps.
tt he f eh ml n’t t n s n o t e The design of the symbols reflects the US flag with standardised
cocl nue f e ee red and blue, plus white stars, used in both. They have become
n m. S e Rcn ht prominent symbols of the two political parties, and maps
s l d d e Dcc y s can make good use of them to provide an immediately
l e. A e he t e ht recognisable theme. Interestingly, neither of these animal logos
s o uy eie m. are official logos of the parties, but for a map, the key is to use a
graphic that the map reader will identify with, and these symbols
An, e ht s uy do that job much better than the less frequently used official logos.
oe y hn e y t e se , o e ht s hk a e n e mp o ht ts h e se e f Eol Ce s (e.g. Mt d Wn) er e
Wn u e a x l he o , u l n he o me ps ee. Ug e ht d y s ponl s o 3,141 s d e y. I td t. Ld ! Te pe s o et o ts. Ls t, t a ede mp.
For logos to be used successfully, maps must be relatively simple
s
t andnotoverloadedwithsymbols.Overlapsneedtobeavoidedne. because the complex shape of a logo often causes distractions. A
important aspect of the use of any logo is determining whether
you have permission from any copyright holder to use the
logo. These logos are copyright free.
62 Thematic mapping