From the Land of the Rabbits to the Land of the Thunder Dragon, and many places in between, Found in Translation: The Unexpected Origins of Place Names by Duncan Madden is an extraordinary and fascinating journey into the history of the naming of the world. I designed the cover background and map illustrations for the the book that has been published globally in English, Korean and Czech and was awarxded book of the month by Stanfords in London ("The World's Biggest and Best Map and Travel Bookshop") when it was first released. After it was published, I was contracted for illustrations for further books by the publisher.
I designed the background for the book cover in close collaboration with the author and publisher. Simple straight lines morphing into waves and jagged peaks along with a colour change tell the story of travelling from sea to land and mountains. The publishing house added typography and layout on top.
The biggest challenge with the map illustrations was finding a way to illustrate the origin of each of the 63 country names, whilst showing accurate maps and locations, their names, and maintaining a balanced hand-drawn style.
Map illustrations: North and South America
The solution was choosing the right perspective of a 3D globe translated into 2D, and using hand-drawn place-marks that evolve from straight lines into custom continuous line drawings.
Map illustrations: Asia and Oceania
Each illustration references the story of origin from the text and is researched to display locally relevant visuals.
Browse all portfolio projects
© Anki Delfmann 2024
