Saint Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show Map 2018

Illustrated Map for Guests and Exhibitors

Illustration and Design by John Potter - Escape Key Graphics
Client: Informa Markets
For information on attending the Saint Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show please visit StPeteBoatShow.com

The 2018 Saint Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show map did not necessitate major structural revisions from the previous year, confirming that the underlying design is both solid and reliably effective.

Illustration Updates

For this edition, I returned to the viewing angle used in 2016, which is panned slightly to the right compared to the 2017 perspective. The lighting within the three dimensional model was adjusted to simulate the "golden hour," giving the entire illustration a warmer, brighter appearance with more pronounced, elongated shadows. A notable change was made to the large exhibit tents. They were rendered with an opaque fill rather than the translucent, ghosted look of previous years, which had been used to hint at internal booth footprints. This change followed the 2017 decision to label each tent with a single, overarching number span instead of multiple spans for interior areas, making the transparent effect unnecessary. As is standard, the master three dimensional file was updated to reflect the current year's floating dock configurations and revisions to land based exhibits.

Graphic Design Refinements

The 2018 layout did not feature the event logo in the title area, instead using a high contrast black and white title bar. The usual updates were made to the placement and descriptions of points of interest. The established keying system of white numerals on blue dots was retained, as was the set of graphical icons for amenities. These icons underwent some simplification this year, though their use of color and specific style details are always developed according to client preference. My personal design philosophy favors making icons for facilities and amenities as simple and universally intuitive as possible. I typically support including a key for these icons, as some symbols, like those for elevators, are not as immediately recognizable as one might hope. Furthermore, because most of these maps are produced as part of a coordinated set for an event, I maintain the practice of keying all icons on every map for consistency, even if a particular icon does not appear on each individual layout.

For more examples of my illustrative cartography for marine events, please visit my Maps Portfolio.