A good map has to simplify a real, often complicated space into something someone can follow while walking, driving or glancing at a leaflet. We design site plans, visitor maps and illustrated maps for events, developments, campuses and venues, balancing accuracy with clarity.

The hardest part of map design is usually deciding what to leave out — a real site or venue contains far more detail than anyone needs to navigate it, and including everything makes a map harder to read, not easier. Working out which landmarks, routes and facilities genuinely matter to the person using the map, and simplifying or removing the rest, is what turns an accurate survey into something actually usable.

Consistent iconography and labelling are used throughout, so a symbol means the same thing everywhere it appears on the map, and someone doesn’t have to relearn the key partway through reading it. Route lines, numbering and colour coding are kept as simple as the space allows, since a map crowded with detail defeats its own purpose regardless of how accurate it is.

Where a map needs to work across formats — printed on a leaflet, displayed on signage and shown on a website, for example — it’s designed with all three in mind from the start, so proportions and legibility hold up whether someone is looking at a phone screen or a large printed board.

For printing large-format maps and plans, see our plan printing page.