Creating unity

Unity is the interrelationship of map elements. It isn't about making everything identical, but rather complimentary. Neatlines don't have to all be the same thickness, but they should work together to support the balance and hierarchy of your elements. Fonts and colors should be limited and coordinated (more on this in later chapters). Patterns should vary in intensity, rather than style. 

You see examples of unity every day, in corporate branding. You might be expected to produce maps with certain aspects already specified, such as your organization's logo or colors. You might also be part of a team that is producing a series of maps, and you need to make all of the maps look like they belong together. Sometimes this can pose challenges if these restrictions don't mix well with what's happening in your map, but there are ways to bring it all together.

Unity also refers to lining things up, making them look like they are part of a set—not in rigid conformity, but in a way that supports regular forms and doesn't interfere with balance. We saw this a little in, Figure 3.4, but in the following figure, it shows what can sometimes happen if default placement is used:

Let's revisit our New Zealand map, and make sure all the elements are working together. We'll do more with fonts in Chapter 4, Typographic Principles, but for now, let's make sure that the fonts in our legend, scale bar, and map credits all match: 

1. Select the Scale Bar and set the Numbers and Units to Arial, 8 pt.
2. Select the credits—name, date and source and set them to Arial, 8 pt.
3. Set the title to Arial Black, 24 pt or 36 pt, depending on how you've balanced your other items.
4. Delete your legend placeholder. If you didn't turn on the Roads and Regions layers in the last section, do so now.
5. On the Insert tab, click Legend. Click and drag a box over the spot where your placeholder was.
6. Double-click on the Legend to launch the Format pane.
7. Switch to Text Symbol and expand Appearance. Set the font to Arial, 12 pt.
8. In the Contents pane, expand the Legend to show each item. Uncheck NZ Outline and NZ _Dissolve, as these are unneeded. 

Now that you've got an actual legend in, reassess your overall balance and see if anything needs to be adjusted. Remember that the compilation process is just a rough draft to help quickly position elements, not a final draft. Here's just one possibility: