Map pictograms: the world as washing

How to advertise washing machines to me: add a world map made from clothes. I found this lovely image in a Latvian magazine.

Map pictograms: Georgia

It's probably fair to say we don't see many maps of Georgia printed in the UK. So I was intrigued to see these maps in The Economist magazine - advertising Georgia as a business opportunity. Whether you agree with the attempts to westernise Georgia or not, the maps and landscapes are stunning.

Map pictograms: Ireland unwound

Two tourism ads with maps showing Ireland and Britain in cord-form. The latter suggests that Britain's all tangled up (nice unwitting Girls Aloud reference) while Ireland's all relaxed.

Map pictograms: tomato sauce Britain

Lovely little map on a pasta sauce ad. Funny they include some islands (like the Scilly Isles) but don't bother with Northern Ireland...

Map pictograms: Haiti

I've long thought maps were cool, and I also really love map pictograms - silhouettes or shapes of countries, continents, cities showing their geographical shapes.

It's really interesting that there are some shapes we instantly recognise - the USA, Australia, UK maybe. And there are some we would not - would you know Nepal's shape, Slovenia's, El Salvador's?

So I'm always interested when I see geographical shapes being used in ads, posters or anywhere else.

I recently saw this image of Haiti / Hispaniola, in an advert to build awareness of post-earthquake relief. Many of us would not have known Haiti's shape before this week, but now it has become a symbol and a sign - we see it and instantly think Haiti, and probably think about earthquake, disaster, tragedy soon afterwards.

I see many more of these, so I am going to start posting them from now. For now, though, I'd urge you to visit http://www.dec.org.uk to donate to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal.