Classic Cartography Challenge

When I start a design project – any kind of project – my biggest goal is to come up with something unique. Oftentimes my first ideas are tossed aside as being too obvious a solution to the problem. With this week’s challenge at Spoonflower – Classic Cartography – I was really struggling. When you google it, lots of interesting images pop up – compass rose, callipers, telescope, aerial photography, topography maps, seascapes, mythical monsters, treasure maps and shipwrecks. I finally settled on drawing some traditional images but in a fresh way. I focused on octopii, sea monsters and stylized waves organized in a grid of compasses and a fresh and colorful palette. My design, which I’m calling Magellan’s Monsters, is part of the challenge now running at Spoonflower, and voting is open to the public!