MEDIUM: Digital Illustration, Map
DESCRIPTION:
Madison Mosaic is a stylized map of Madison, Wisconsin that turns the city’s street grid into a mosaic of geometric shapes and color blocks. The design highlights the unique isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona and the surrounding neighborhoods near the University of Wisconsin–Madison. By simplifying streets and blocks into abstract forms, the piece focuses more on the overall pattern and layout of the city rather than an exact map. The warm reds and golds are inspired by the university’s colors and help tie the whole composition together. The goal of the piece is to celebrate the structure and character of Madison through a clean, graphic interpretation of its layout.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
I created Madison Mosaic as a way to explore the layout of Madison, Wisconsin through a more graphic and abstract lens. Madison has a really interesting city structure because it sits on an isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, and I wanted to highlight that shape while also showing the surrounding street grid. Instead of making a traditional map, I simplified the city into blocks of color and geometric shapes that resemble a mosaic. The color palette was inspired by the reds and warm tones associated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, along with neutral colors to balance the composition. I was interested in how the repetition of shapes and streets could create rhythm and visual texture across the piece while still being recognizable as Madison. As a graphic design student, I enjoy working with systems and patterns, and maps are a great example of both. This piece allowed me to experiment with turning something functional into something more visual and expressive. Madison Mosaic is meant to represent the city in a simplified but recognizable way while celebrating the structure and character of the place where I study and live.
