Who says North is up?
Upside Down maps (also known as South-Up or Reversed maps) offer a completely different perspective of the world we live in.
Technically speaking, even referring to the earth with words like “up” or “down” or comparing places with words “above” or “below” is flawed, considering that the earth is a spherical body (it’s actually slightly “fatter” at the equator) and flying through 3 dimensional space with no reference of up or down. However, the issue of “up” and “down” does become an issue when viewing the surface of the earth projected onto a flat piece of paper (a map). And the effect of the orientation of a map is more significant than you might realize.
As all maps require orientation for reference, the issue of how to layout the map orientation is as old as maps themselves. As map orientation is completely arbitrary, it is not surprising that they differed throughout time periods and regions.
The convention of North-up is usually attributed to the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy (90-168 AD). Justifications for his north-up approach vary. In the middle ages, East was often placed at top. This is the origin of the term “The Orient” to refer to East Asia. During the age of exploration, European cartographers again followed the north-up convention…perhaps because the North Star was their fixed reference point for navigation, or because they wanted (subconsciously or otherwise) to ensure Europe’s claim at the top of the world.
In modern times, reversed maps are made as a learning device or to illustrate Northern Hemisphere bias. Different from simply turning a north-up map upside down, a reversed map has the text oriented to be read with south up.
The famous “Blue Marble” photograph of the Earth taken from on board Apollo 17 was originally oriented with the south pole at the top, with the island of Madagascar visible just left of center, and the continent of Africa at its right. However, the image was turned upside-down to fit the traditional view.
While the orientation of a map might seem harmless, it can have a significant effect on one’s perception of the world, and the relative importance of the different place in it.
In speech, we often refer to places being “above” or “below” others. Think of how you would say you’re about to travel to the state or country to your north or south (to go “down” to Kentucky from Indiana, or “up” to Canada from the US). Without even mentioning geography, ask any grade school student whether Mexico is “above” or “below” the United States. We’re all familiar with the “land down under”. As we often correlate importance to relative height (think how a citizens of a country will fly their flag higher than all other flags), the north-up convention reinforces the idea that northern bodies are more important than their southern neighbors. Suddenly, traveling “down” to the South might have an inference much deeper than geographic location.
After looking at the map more closely, you may realize that the South-Up orientation may change your perception of the relative status of different places. For example, South America suddenly looks to have more prominence, and Africa and the Middle East completely dwarf Europe. Likewise, tucking Northern Europe, Canada, and Russia away at the bottom of the map, subconsciously takes away their status.
To summarize, unconditionally accepting the north-up map convention without at least appreciating the effect stands at odds with viewing all people and places within the world equally. x x
Evanna Lynch in an hour!!! AHHHHHH!!!!
i like how we are standing in line together to meet Evanna, mutually reblogging each otha
I think it’s safe to say we had the greatest cast ever.
First trailer for Arrested Development - Season 4!
(Source: timetoputonashow)
lots of love this mother’s day for everyone who has a complex relationship with their mom, everyone who has ceased communication with their mom for reasons of self-preservation, and every person whose mom is deceased
Photographer Jaime Moore‘s daughter Emma recently turned 5 years old. Naturally, being a photographer, Moore wanted to commemorate the event for her daughter by putting together a cute photo shoot for her, so she turned to the Internet for inspiration.
Much to her chagrin, however, something like 95 percent of the ideas she ran into were actually the same idea: how to dress up your 5-year-old as a Disney Princess. Moore wasn’t keen on that, so she went another way. Instead of dressing her daughter up as a made up ideal, an “unrealistic fantasy” as she put it, she chose to dress and pose her daughter as some of the greatest women throughout history.
The point was to convey to little Emma that she could be anything she wants to be. As Moore explains it on her blog
“My daughter wasn’t born into royalty, but she was born into a country where she can now vote, become a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, or even President if she wants and that’s what REALLY matters.”The resulting photo series has Emma dressed and posed as five influential women from the history books, with a presidential photo thrown in at the end. [x]
If I ever had a daughter though….
Golden threads
Some of you may remember my post “Sweater Letters”, showing off the great stitch-work lettering of Syndey based twin designers, Maricor and Maricar.
I saw the tactile type duo’s work at the Pick Me Up Exhibition this week, and had the opportunity to get up close and look at the fantastic detail that goes into their lettering.
Look at the mix of colours combined here to achieve these great colour blends. They would make the most extravagant custom shirts!
My name is Mooku. I love colorful post-it notes, acrylic paint and letterpress. I am an optimist with a knack for slipping into unique speaking accents. I am the luckiest to be in my third year of college studying my passion, Design, while minoring in creative writing all among the neatest people!
deviantART. 
