It doesn’t take a degree in geography, or even a map on hand, to recognize the strong relationship between location and economic production. However, a quick survey of my acquaintances revealed that not many people know what exactly the United States produces. This simple typographic choropleth map identifies each of the 50 states’ primary exports (averaged over a four-year period). I’ll admit that this was very much a function-follows-form experiment, as I wished to dip my toes in the ocean of typeface design, and consequently the map provides no quantitative information about the exports. (It also implicitly suggests that industry remains America’s primary driver of economic growth…but that’s a different story altogether.) That said, this map does enable viewers to quickly and easily understand, and place, the basic range of goods produced in the United States. Prior to creating this map, I had no idea that brewing dregs were a commonly traded commodity, much less the chief export of South Dakota. The more you know, right?
