The Archie’s Press Portland map created by designer and inventor Archie Archambault provides a simple and clever way to explain the city. While he has created a series of simplified maps, there are three design choices unique to the Portland map that make this a treasure (and the only souvenir I purchased during my trip!). These decisions highlight the city’s conceptual model in interesting ways.
1. The circular shape to denote boundaries and outline the “Quadrant” conceptual model
Portland has no defining characteristics other than the Columbia River on its Northern boundary. As a result, Archie simplified this and created one large circle that contains the city. This becomes even more clever once you take into account the conceptual model native Portlanders use to describe where things are. They consider Portland to be a quadrant system with the streets Martin Luther King Blvd and Burnside St. as the intersection that divides the city into four parts. This is not a precise center point, but this design decision simplifies the viewer into thinking there is symmetry in the design of the city. The four main areas are highlighted as a result— NE, SE, NW, and SW.
Neighborhoods are also designated within the city as smaller circles, again simplifying the boundaries. The size of the circle corresponds to the area of the neighborhood. Further, the designer colored “Downtown” in blue. Many Portlanders also describe where things are in relation to Downtown, so this is another area to highlight in their conceptual model of the city.
2. The inclusion of the Wilamette River as an exception to the conceptual model
The only natural feature highlighted on the map is that of the Wilamette River, which comes in from the northwest edge of the map traveling southeast. At a point close to the eastern-most edge of Downtown, the line changes directions and travels straight south.
While the river isn’t actually this straight, its simplified path provides an explanation for one potentially confusing exception to the quadrant rule. There is a “slice of the pie” labeled “N” for North Portland, which is bounded by the Wilamette River and Martin Luther King Blvd. While this is technically part of the NW quadrant, Portlanders consider this to be a different area than true NW, which is mainly Downtown and the large public space of Forest Park.
3. The expanded detail in NE and SE
Lastly, a series of horizontal lines serve as important roads in NE and SE Portland. Only calling out the major roads here is an interesting design decision. It may stem from the fact that NE and SE are objectively the “hot places to be”. This is the Portland of hipsters, restaurants, and artisan shops that many outsiders believe to be the true Portland. I spent most of my visiting time here, so it certainly is true for me. I assume end-users include tourists like me, so the designer may have expanded detail to focus on areas the user might find most interesting.
My Hot Take
I love this map not just for its simplicity and unique abstracted design, but because it actually outlines the conceptual model of Portland in an extremely simple way. To quote Don Norman, “Precision, accuracy, and completeness of knowledge are seldom required.” In my experience traveling, if you have the general rules of the city understood, you probably know it better than if you were to blindly read a map.
I do think that this map is better suited for the latter. With no actual sights defined on the map, it’s much more interested in getting the viewer acquainted with how local Portlanders organize the city.
If the design was tweaked to better accommodate one stop tourists, additional detail on cross streets and a few landmarks could be added without getting rid of the abstracted quadrant system. A legend might be needed as well to provide more detail on the landmarks.
As I am more of a wandering tourist who seeks to really understand how locals view their cities, the map as is tickles my fancy.
Hi Alex,
There’s a map that potentially challenges our conceptual understanding or at least expectations of how maps should look. My first reaction was that I’d totally get lost if I only had to rely on this map in Portland, no phones allowed. But the story you’ve described is so interesting in that it integrates the local/regional specific aspects. I suppose it could also encourage people to strike up more conversations with the locals to know how to get around in Portland and in the process learn the general rules of the city. What are your thoughts on how this design might work for one-stop tourists vs. the more wandering tourists (with more time and intent to explore) ?