Illustrated Campus and Town Map of Ithaca College
by Nate Padavick
Client
Ithaca College
Ithaca, New York
Art Directors
Erin Davis, Executive Director of Creative Strategy
Cristina Eagan, Design Director
Creative Brief
Ithaca College commissioned Nate Padavick to create two maps—one of the college campus and one of the town of Ithaca. The college requested that “...the maps must give a general sense of place and provide inspiration, rather than simply providing point A to point B general navigation.” Additionally, the collage desired to have “...illustrated graphics for key iconic things (a recognizable building, a famous waterfall, etc).”
Project Goals
The goal of this project was to “...inspire prospective students to visit Ithaca College.” The two maps were created for college recruitment efforts.
Project Realization
The project manifested into a 6-panel, 9.5" x 25.5" accordion-folded brochure, which was designed to be mailed to thousands of prospective students nationwide.
Creative Process
In order to execute this complex project smoothly and to ensure client satisfaction, Nate worked closely—and iteratively—with the art directors. The first step was data gathering, which helped define the precise scope of work and identify the boundaries of the map, the sites to be included, and the exact format of the final product—a brochure. The next step was layout sketching, which went through several iterations, due to the quantity of sites requested and the constrictions of a multi-paneled brochure. Once the layout was determined, the sketch phase continued at a more detailed level—buildings, sites, and environmental details. After the sketches were approved, the illustration step began. Nate fully illustrated a small section of the map, in order for the client to review his color choices, illustration style, and lettering technique. Upon approval of those aesthetic factors, Nate took the entire map to finish. The final review allowed for a last round of revisions, which were minimal due to the iterative sketches that Nate provided along the way.
Materials
This map was created in Adobe Illustrator by Nate Padavick, using vector brushes and his hand-drawn font Slender. AI was not used in the creation of this illustration.
Additional
Images
Illustrated map of the town of Ithaca, New YorkPrinted 6-panel, 9.5" x 25.5" accordion-folded brochure
The first draft sketch of the map included an inset map of the campus. During subsequent stages of the sketch process, it became clear that the amount of detail justified the creation of a two-sided map—one side for the town and the other side for the campus.
This idealized view of Ithaca College’s campus features a few of its most reknowned buildings and monuments. It was used as the brochure’s cover illustration.