May 16, 2012.

We received an amazing set of submissions for the Atlas of Design, and the process of cutting this group down into a final selection has not been easy. We simply don’t have the space to publish all the great stuff we’ve seen. After much discussion, we’ve managed to pare our 150 entries down to 27 final selections that we will publish this fall in our inaugural edition. It was really tough to have to pass people over, and we want to acknowledge that the success of this project in its early stages would not have been possible without the help of everyone who submitted, and we hope that we’ll hear from just as many people for our (hoped for) 2014 edition, if not more.

There were a few great cartographers out there who produced more than one map that placed at the top of the judges’ scoring! While we want to honor them, we decided that we wanted to make sure we used this platform to show off the work of as many people as possible. Therefore, we decided to limit each author/group of authors to a single map in the final book. Each of the 27 final selections is by a different author/group.

Next up we’ll be working with the authors to get the final artwork from them and to refine their commentary that will go alongside the map. Then we’ll start laying everything out next month. As you might imagine, it’s a bit of a challenge to take 27 maps, each a different shape and size, and fit them all into the same book! We’ve got some ideas of how to tackle this, and we’re going to make sure that each map is given a chance to clearly show off its beauty. We’re excited to start getting all of these maps together into the same place, and we hope you are, too.

As we go through the process of assembling the publication, we hope to share some previews of how everything is coming together, including showing off some beautiful maps! Be sure to sign up for updates by entering your email address in the box along the right side of the page!