Colour and Typography in Maps Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Screening one ink at five well-separated percentages gives an ordered sequence that survives black and white reproduction. Hue is unavailable by definition, and neither shape nor lettering can carry a rank across areas.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both are true and the reason gives the mechanism. A single ink screened at a series of percentages gives an ordered sequence of tints from pale to solid, which is exactly what ordered data needs. The map costs one plate rather than four, and a great many effective thematic maps have been printed this way.

Answer: C

The first two are correct definitions. The third confuses them: kerning corrects the space between one particular pair of letters, while tracking opens or closes the spacing evenly across a whole run of them, which is how an area name is spread across its feature.

Answer: D

Artwork is extended beyond the intended edge so that a small error in trimming does not leave a white strip. Ink spreading into the fibres is dot gain, and a slipped plate is a registration fault, so the three faults are quite separate things.

Answer: A

Ink spreads slightly as it is absorbed, so each halftone dot covers a little more area than intended and the tint prints darker. Presses compensate for it in advance, which is why an uncorrected file can come back muddier than the proof.

Answer: B

A scheme that separates cleanly on a bright screen can collapse into indistinguishable tints on paper, and the reverse also occurs. Deciding the destination first, then choosing within its gamut, avoids reworking the whole design.

Answer: C

Deuteranomaly and protanomaly, the two commonest forms, both affect the red-green axis, and together they account for the great majority of cases. Blue-yellow confusion exists but is very much rarer, which is why the red-green pairing is the one design guidance singles out.

Answer: D

Correct answer: a higher rank in the settlement hierarchy

Capitals, larger sizes and heavier weights are used together to signal importance, so a reader can see the rank of a place from its lettering alone. The convention is so well established that departing from it misleads even when the legend explains the departure.

Answer: A

Capitals lose the ascenders and descenders that give a word its distinctive outline, so the eye has less to work with. They suit short emphatic labels such as a country name but slow the reading of anything longer than a few words, which is why legend text is set in lower case.

Answer: B

Correct answer: adding a halo of the background colour

A halo - a thin outline of the paper or background colour around each letter - separates the type from whatever lies beneath without hiding it. Moving the name away breaks its association with the feature, and reducing the size makes it harder to read rather than easier.