We are going to be talking about typography in class on Monday (Jan. 31), but first I wanted to share a recent map from National Geographic with you (Feb. 2011 issue). The map illustrates the US with text showing predominant surnames. Some immediate patterns emerge from the combination of the text for the names themselves (e.g. Smith in New England and Garcia in southern California), from a proportional font size (larger fonts for more predominant last names) and colour (e.g. grey font for surnames originating in England versus red font for surnames originating in Spain). This map is fascinating for its subject matter and use of text (typography), but also because of the way that so many map techniques are being employed on one map.
Perhaps even more fascinating from the subject matter point of view, is this site: where you can type in your surname and see the global distribution of your particular name. Fun!
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