The city of Copenhagen recently issued its first official map for Mandarin speakers.
Strategies
Iconic Representation. Rather than using text labels, this map conveys the presence of recreational boating activities, scenic elements and transportation via simple images.
Legibility. The text on the map is reasonably easy to read. The sans serif typeface, negative space around words and even spacing between the letters contributes to this.
Proportion. This map is designed for use for visiting tourists. As such, destinations of potential tourist interest are visualized at much larger scale in relation to their surroundings.
Forgiveness. Copenhagen’s cityscape is dotted with several large waterways and lakes. in this map, the boundaries of the water areas are lined in two progressively darker shades of blue to clearly separate the water from the surrounding land. Particularly for color-blind users, this additional differentiating detail can help minimize confusion around the meaning of the blue/water areas.
Harmony. The map is designed in tonally similar shades of green, blue and brown. This creates a feeling of visual harmony between the elements of green space (signified by green), water (signified by blue) and humanity/architecture (signified by brown).