Maps are some of the most carefully designed objects, often blending utility and beauty seamlessly. The type on a map has higher stakes than type elsewhere — it represents a real three-dimensional world in two-dimensional space. Type is crucial to if a map succeeds, and the type systems of maps can be incredibly rigid, complex, and intricate. But that relationship between the type and the rest of the map is often taken for granted.

Maps also have a rich history in the media, used as visual and journalistic storytelling devices for decades. That tradition continues today — maybe stronger than ever — at publications like National Geographic, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, start-ups like MapBox and MapZen. Using sites like OpenStreetMap and tools like QGIS are making it easier to use digital maps to tell stories.

The New York Times employs professional designers and cartographers who are journalists in their own right. They do original reporting and writing, and think deeply about form, layout, interaction and type, effectively making aesthetic decisions that double as journalistic ones. Join Larry Buchanan, a graphics editor at The Times, for an evening of maps, type and the stories they create in tandem.

Larry Buchanan is a graphics editor at The New York Times where he reports, writes and makes maps, charts, diagrams, and other weird things that don’t necessarily fall into one of those categories. He is also an instructor at the School of Visual Arts. He has taught graduate and undergraduate level courses at The New School, Pratt Institute, and Indiana University. Before working for the Times, he made interactive graphics for The New Yorker. Before that he lived in a log cabin in Indiana and didn’t have much going on. He’s also an ADC Young Gun.