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Abstract

One of the main methods of choosing colours on modern urban maps is to follow established guidelines. However, there is no record of how these have been established. Previous research on mapping focused on cartography, with the role of colour in urban maps reduced to simple ‘decoration’. To investigate this, it is argued here that visual methods can be used for exploring the colour representation along with any associated cultural or historical information from Graphic Design perspectives. Considering London as a research source and applying visual content analysis with semiotic theory, this thesis redefined how colour used can be considered within historical urban maps.

The previous understanding of ‘decoration’, is redefined as a subcategory of a new concept of Aesthetic Enhancement. This includes three perspectives: enhancing the original city; commercial enhancement for the publishers; enhancement for viewers by map artists (decoration). Similarly, another category of naturalism/realism used in cartography (a common, or map artists understanding of natural colours) is redefined as Pseudo Naturalism. The third and final category of colour use is defined as Abstract Functionalism, which includes the representation of information. This is similar to the previous understanding, of colour grammar in cartography. However, this function also includes two additional categories, which are visual-spatial information and functional tool for adding information, such as cultural, social, development or abstract information. Thus colour on historical London maps has more functions than just decoration. The rich meanings of colour on historical maps could offer a new perspective for researching and understanding graphic elements in many areas, such as Graphic Design, Information Design and Cartography. Indeed, this thesis showed that the relative changes within the colour application may highlight changes in the history of map-making, as demonstrates by refining changes in cartography, formally associated with the early 19th century, to a much early period that began with the Great Fire of London in 1666.

 

 

Course: Master of Philosophy - MPhil

Date Deposited: 2024-09-12

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14447.html