{"id":2953332,"date":"2026-01-07T10:05:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2953332"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:05:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:05:56","slug":"layout-advice-bonanza-lessons-for-creating-a-great-composition-in-arcgis-pro","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/layout-advice-bonanza-lessons-for-creating-a-great-composition-in-arcgis-pro","title":{"rendered":"Layout advice bonanza: Lessons for creating a great composition in ArcGIS Pro"},"author":6971,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22941],"tags":[26451,27361,27981,780910,31201],"industry":[],"product":[36561],"class_list":["post-2953332","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-cartography","tag-design","tag-layout","tag-poster","tag-print","product-arcgis-pro"],"acf":{"short_description":"How to break your map layout out of its boxy domain","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

There are a lot of things to consider when you assemble a map into a layout, but here are three overarching things to consider:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A well-balanced composition. The map and all the other elements have a visual weight. A good looking layout will balance these items, like you’d balance plates on a cafeteria tray.<\/li>\n
  2. Organized and distilled text. There’s a discipline to refining, referring, or omitting, what might otherwise be giant titles and paragraphs. A good layout does more showing than telling.<\/li>\n
  3. Simplified surrounds. Sometimes an austere eye is needed to appropriately design, or delete, the non-map doodads.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Here’s an example layout that has some issues.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953350,"id":2953350,"title":"ProLayout_Original","filename":"ProLayout_Original.jpg","filesize":641750,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/layout-advice-bonanza-lessons-for-creating-a-great-composition-in-arcgis-pro\/prolayout_original","alt":"A map layout that has some design issues.","author":"6971","description":"","caption":"","name":"prolayout_original","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953332,"date":"2026-01-07 18:03:18","modified":"2026-01-07 18:03:31","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1242,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original.jpg","medium-width":403,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":497,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original.jpg","large-width":1670,"large-height":1080,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original-1536x994.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":994,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1242,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original-719x465.jpg","card_image-width":719,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original-1670x1080.jpg","wide_image-width":1670,"wide_image-height":1080}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Original.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

    Those issues have been addressed in this update.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953351,"id":2953351,"title":"ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal","filename":"ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal.jpg","filesize":673324,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/layout-advice-bonanza-lessons-for-creating-a-great-composition-in-arcgis-pro\/prolayout_revised_horizontal","alt":"A map layout with a considered design structure","author":"6971","description":"","caption":"","name":"prolayout_revised_horizontal","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953332,"date":"2026-01-07 18:03:48","modified":"2026-01-07 18:04:01","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1242,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal.jpg","medium-width":403,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":497,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal.jpg","large-width":1670,"large-height":1080,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal-1536x994.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":994,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1242,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal-719x465.jpg","card_image-width":719,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal-1670x1080.jpg","wide_image-width":1670,"wide_image-height":1080}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Horizontal.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

    And here it is in a portrait orientation.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2953348,"id":2953348,"title":"ProLayout_Revised_Vertical","filename":"ProLayout_Revised_Vertical.jpg","filesize":667395,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/layout-advice-bonanza-lessons-for-creating-a-great-composition-in-arcgis-pro\/prolayout_revised_vertical","alt":"A map layout with a considered design structure, in portrait orientation","author":"6971","description":"","caption":"","name":"prolayout_revised_vertical","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2953332,"date":"2026-01-07 17:57:01","modified":"2026-01-07 17:57:08","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1242,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical.jpg","medium-width":169,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1187,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical.jpg","large-width":699,"large-height":1080,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical-994x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":994,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical.jpg","2048x2048-width":1242,"2048x2048-height":1920,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical-301x465.jpg","card_image-width":301,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_Revised_Vertical-699x1080.jpg","wide_image-width":699,"wide_image-height":1080}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ProLayout_RevisedVertical.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

    You can download this source ArcGIS Project package<\/a> to take a closer look.<\/p>\n

    Of course, there’s no one<\/em> right way to make a map, but you’re looking for a little bit of guidance, here are some ideas to consider that might take some of the guesswork out of a potentially challenging process.<\/p>\n

    Balance the composition<\/strong>
    \n\u2022Prioritize map size
    \n\u2022Area of interest best fit = layout orientation
    \n\u2022Area of interest\u00a0breathing room
    \n\u2022Use surrounds as balancing agents
    \n\u2022Use layout guides
    \nOrganize & Distill text<\/strong>
    \n\u2022Only key words as title
    \n\u2022Secondary context as pre-title and\/or sub-title
    \n\u2022Eliminate, distill, or defer copy
    \n\u2022Integrate annotation (selective bolding of key ideas)
    \n\u2022Professional attribution
    \nSimplify the surrounds<\/strong>
    \n\u2022Remove unnecessary borders, backgrounds, and neatlines
    \n\u2022Simplify the legend (or integrate it into the title or chart)
    \n\u2022Simplify the overview (regional polygon, no basemap)
    \n\u2022Simplify or remove north arrow (smaller than your thumb)
    \n\u2022Simplify or remove scalebar (whole numbers, logical divisions)
    \n\u2022Remove photographs (or remove their backgrounds)<\/p>\n

    Here’s a video where I walk through the original layout’s design issues, and assemble a new layout given the above considerations…<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","start_time":"0","end_time":"","youtube_video_url":"