{"id":193272,"date":"2018-05-29T15:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=193272"},"modified":"2020-10-26T09:58:53","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T16:58:53","slug":"donut-map","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/maps-for-adobecc\/mapping\/donut-map","title":{"rendered":"Incorporating Maps into Your Graphic Design with Maps for Creative Cloud\u00a9"},"author":6291,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22941],"tags":[26451,85762,30921,31471,31451],"industry":[],"product":[36741],"class_list":["post-193272","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-cartography","tag-creative-cloud","tag-illustrator","tag-m4cc","tag-map-design","product-maps-for-adobecc"],"acf":{"short_description":"Esri's Maps for Creative Cloud\u00a9 extension makes integrating a map into your graphic design a seamless experience. Learn how to add KML files, an ","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":194372,"id":194372,"title":"Donut Map full by Sarah Bell","filename":"1200_donut_map.png","filesize":473119,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/maps-for-adobecc\/mapping\/donut-map\/1200_donut_map","alt":"Donut Map full by Sarah Bell","author":"6291","description":"Donut Map full by Sarah Bell","caption":"","name":"1200_donut_map","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":193272,"date":"2018-05-24 01:46:02","modified":"2018-05-24 01:46:30","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1200,"height":742,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":132,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","medium-width":422,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":475,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","large-width":1200,"large-height":742,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":742,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":742,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","card_image-width":752,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/05\/1200_donut_map.png","wide_image-width":1200,"wide_image-height":742}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Graphic designers (and mappers who are into graphic design), this post is for you! I’m going to share the basic steps for getting a spatially accurate map with real map information into your graphic design project by showing how I started this map for this 1950s donut shop illustration. I used a KML file and Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud (M4CC<\/a>), Esri’s mapping extension<\/a> for Illustrator and Photoshop. If you want to learn more about the graphic design techniques, I’ve posted that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why should you incorporate a map into your graphic design & illustrations?<\/h2>\n

On my very first professional mapping project, I realized that contextualizing the mere location of things has the potential to stir up strong emotions for map readers. It could be as simple as seeing your uploaded GPS tracks of your months-long hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, or as complex as visualizing your intensely analyzed pollution data showing areas where rehabilitation has decreased water toxicity levels. Maps help people visually verify things they were already pretty certain of. Maps can also uncover spatial stories that would have otherwise gone unknown. Even maps of the most sure things, like the shape of a person’s home region, pull at our emotions. I personally have a t-shirt that simply has the shape of Washington state on it because it is the shape of my beloved home.<\/p>\n

The point is that maps are not boring. Incorporating a map into your graphic design can give your design a burst of connection between your illustration and its viewers that may otherwise have been left untapped. If you’re a graphic designer, then you’re probably pretty familiar with graphic design software like Adobe Illustrator\u00a9. Esri has developed an extension for Adobe Illustrator<\/a> that – as of this post – is in version 1.2.1. It has a long name (ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud), so I find the M4CC abbreviation to be useful. M4CC makes integrating a map into your design a seamless experience between the map data and the graphic designer’s software.<\/p>\n

Without further ado, here is how I used M4CC to map a list of donut shops that Thrillist compiled<\/a> back in February.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 4 Steps to make this map<\/h2>\n

*Note – If you’ve never mapped using M4CC, the links in the bullet list below are useful to get started.<\/p>\n

You can build a map from entirely free map data using the M4CC extension just by searching and adding it, while never leaving Adobe Illustrator. You don’t need to use a custom a KML or CSV file at all. But if you have a list of locations or find – or make – a useful KML file, these custom files can be incredibly useful and fun.<\/p>\n

You’ll first need to define your map area in the extension. Here are a few links that show how to define your map area, and add map data in M4CC:<\/p>\n