Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx A New Kind Of Map

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Here's an artwork I have been wrestling with for the past couple of months.

Having got to this point, I'm delighted with the results and want to share it with you all. Obvious enough theme...

There's a few puns, a couple of visual jokes and a degree of artistic license.
Some deliberate mistakes etc

Thanks and best wishes to everyone for a Happy New Year - 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of Ultravox!

That's the lilac line...
Change at SoR for Vienna and all stations to Eden

That's really good Martin. It'll make a good poster.

Regards

Peter

Nice work, Martin
As Peter says - It makes a good poster.

All the best for 2014 to you and everyone too!

Andreas

Nice

A happy New Year to everyone

As I've said elsewhere its brilliant Martin.

happy new year everybody!

Brian

Thanks everyone for positive response so far - I reckon it has taken the best part of 40 years!!

More seriously, I came up with the concept of A NEW KIND OF MAP (THE TRANS FOXXY EXPRESS) couple of years ago, and have drafted several versions, but the final version didn't 'come to me' until a week or three before Christmas.

I'm a cartographer by profession (though I no longer practise) and I have always loved the London Tube map. The exhibition at the London transport Museum which I saw in the summer also cemented the idea in my head.
You've hit on the 'Foxx under London' element - thanks - but also integral to it is the fact that maps have no pre-destined Point Of Entry and there is no narrative that directs which way you move through the graphic.
Like John's career, the direction of travel is neither linear no chronological. Threads, rather than lines. Moving like smoke.
Wandering, exploring, discovering and coming across things here and there.

Hence the 'jokes' I have included. Affectionate nods to this and that.

Ideas generate themselves as we know, and one of the experiments was to put a black background in. This (which might seem obvious, but wasn't in the original plan) ties the whole thing in with Barnbook's wonderful 'brand' for the Maths. I know this establish the work in the present, but that actually helped fixing the visual into people's mind and relate directly without too much analysis. Fonts etc were chosen to move beyond this and allow it to float more freely across the whole timeline.

I've got a plan for a follow up, but this for now says everything I wanted it to, and is developing a life of its own that suggests different formats, versions and even commissions.

Enjoy

Where do I change for the Belbury Circle Line?

Nice...

I look forward to that extension opening

Nice one Martin, beautifully designed! It looks great even from an unreadable distance but then when you read the details you see how carefully it has been arranged. I look forward to the street map that could follow, showing how far apart these stations actually are! For instance, In Mysterious Ways to Shifting City looks a short hop but I bet you would need to allow the best part of half an hour for that journey ...

There will be some A2 size copies of A NEW KIND OF MAP for sale
within the next two weeks

Thanks to everyone for their enthusiastic comments