Design a Cartographic Map Emblem Logo

Create a 1200 × 1200 document. Everything is centred on (600, 600), so click the top ruler at x = 600 and the left ruler at y = 600 to drop a centre cross. Add horizontal guides at y = 130 and 1070, the top and bottom of the emblem, and a vertical guide at x = 420. That last one marks the compass rose's centre, which sits at (420, 624).

Click Background, set the foreground to #E9DDC3 and choose Edit → Fill. Rename Layer 1 to Paper Mottle and run Filter → Clouds… at Scale 14. Open its effects drawer, set the blend mode to Multiply, and drop the layer to 9% opacity. The result is a quiet mottle, not a cloudy sky.

Add a layer named Plate. With the Elliptical Marquee, drag from (130, 130) to (1070, 1070) for a 470 px radius disc. Fill it with #F2E7CB.

Now build a double rule:

1. Choose Select → Shrink… 8 and fill with the ink #2B2118.
2. Choose Select → Shrink… 2 and fill with the cream again.

That leaves a 2 px ink ring 8 px inside the rim. Press Cmd+D.

In the effects drawer, add these effects:

• Stroke 3 px in ink.
• Inner Glow, Size 46, Opacity 45, #9C7A45, for an aged rim.
• Drop Shadow with Offset Y 10, Blur 26, Opacity 45, #3A2A14.

Click Rasterize Layer Style so the effects become pixels. Baked effects keep a big document fast.

Add a layer named Neatline. Select a disc from (212, 212) to (988, 988) (radius 388) and fill it with ink. Set the foreground to the plate cream.

Choose Filter → Sunburst… with these settings, then click Apply:

• Rays 72, Width 50, Taper 0
• Center X 50, Center Y 50

Half of every slot turns cream, so you get alternating wedges.

Select the radius 380 disc, from (220, 220) to (980, 980), and press Delete. Only an 8 px band of alternating bars is left, like the degree border of an old chart. Deselect, add a 2 px ink Stroke, and rasterize the layer style.

Add a layer named Sea and select the radius 380 disc again. Pick the Gradient tool, set it to Radial, and open Advanced…. Set three stops:

• #4F8591 at 0%
• #3A6B78 at 60%
• #1F404A at 100%

Drag from the compass centre (420, 624) to (980, 624), so the water is lightest where the rose will sit. Deselect. Add an Inner Glow of Size 40, Opacity 55 in #12272D to darken the edge, then rasterize.

Add Rhumb Lines. Select a radius 378 disc so the lines stop at the border, and set the foreground to #D9BE84. Run Sunburst again with these settings:

• Rays 32, Width 5, Taper 50
• Center X 35, Center Y 52

Taper 50 gives parallel-sided lines instead of wedges. The centre is 35% and 52% of 1200 px, which is exactly (420, 624). Deselect and set the layer to 32% opacity.

Add a layer named Land. With the Lasso, draw a rocky coast that enters at the left edge around y = 250. Pass through roughly these points, then close the selection round the top-right corner, outside the canvas:

(250, 318), (425, 408), (552, 560), (700, 702), (885, 800), (1200, 905)

Keep the line nervous and jagged. Real coasts double back on themselves.

Choose Select → Feather… 1 to soften the stair-steps, then fill with #EFE2C0.

Fjords are long, narrow channels that get thinner toward their heads. For each one, lasso a wiggling channel about 30–40 px wide at the mouth and 8 px wide at the head. Feather it by 1, then press Delete.

1. A short one from (272, 368) up to (452, 250).
2. The main fjord, from (508, 540) through (604, 440) and (690, 372) to its head at (792, 318).
3. One from (722, 752) through (842, 676) to (928, 596).

Lasso a small ragged island, about 52 × 30 px, at (300, 470) on Land and fill it. To make an archipelago:

1. Marquee the island and press Cmd+C, then Cmd+V. The copy is pasted in place.
2. Drag the copy with the Move tool.
3. Cmd-click its thumbnail to select it, then turn it with a corner rotation handle and resize it with Cmd held on a corner scale handle.

Make three copies:

• 60° at 70% scale, at (252, 566)
• −35° at 125% scale, at (612, 752)
• 25° at 75% scale, at (668, 938)

Try Cmd+Z three times and Cmd+Shift+Z three times on the last one. The skerry steps back through scale, rotate and move, then returns exactly. Finally, Layer → Merge Down each copy into Land.

Contour tints (hypsometric tints) colour land by height. Here each band is simply the coast pushed further inland.

First give Land a 2 px ink Stroke for the coastline and rasterize it. Then repeat these steps for each band:

1. Cmd-click the previous layer's thumbnail.
2. Choose Select → Shrink… by the amount below.
3. Add a layer named Contour 1, Contour 2 and so on.
4. Fill it, then give it a 1 px #6E5234 Stroke and rasterize.

• Contour 1: Shrink 12, fill #E7D6AB
• Contour 2: Shrink 14, fill #DDC895
• Contour 3: Shrink 18, fill #D0B780
• Contour 4: Shrink 24, fill #C1A36B
• Contour 5: Shrink 30, fill #AD8E59

Because each band shrinks from the one before, the bands follow every headland and fjord. The stroke on each band reads as an engraved contour line.

Click Rhumb Lines and add Shallows. Cmd-click Land, choose Select → Grow… 12 and fill with #5A8E98.

Add Waterlines. Each ring is made in two moves: grow and fill, then grow 2 px less and delete. Work from the outermost ring inward, because each Delete clears everything nearer the coast.

1. Grow 46, fill #6E989F
2. Grow 31, fill #8AAEB2
3. Grow 19, fill #A9C6C6
4. Grow 6, fill #CFE0DC

Set the layer to 75% opacity.

The land and rings run far past the chart. Select the radius 380 disc and choose Select → Inverse. Then click each of these layers and press Delete:

• Shallows
• Waterlines
• Land
• Contour 1 to Contour 5

Deselect.

Old charts often use a conic projection. The meridians lean toward a pole off the top of the map, and the parallels curve around it.

Add Graticule above Contour 5 and select a radius 379 disc. Set the Brush to Size 2, Hardness 100, Spacing 10, colour #9DB0B6.

• Meridians: click at y = 200, then Shift-click at y = 1000. Each line points at (600, −1900) and crosses y = 600 at x = 300, 400 … 900.
• Parallels: draw them every 100 px with Shift-click chains that follow circles round the same point.

Set the layer to 55% opacity.

Add Rose Ring and select a radius 84 disc on (420, 624). Fill it with #1E1812.

Run Sunburst with Rays 64, Width 50, Taper 0, and Center 35 / 52. Delete a radius 78 disc to leave the ticks.

For a hairline inside the ticks, select a radius 73 disc and fill it cream. Then choose Shrink 2 and delete.

Add Rose Cardinal. Each point is two thin triangles, lassoed and filled:

• Light half: centre, tip, and a shoulder 16 px out at 45° on the left. Fill it cream.
• Dark half: the same on the right. Fill it #1E1812.

Make the points 104 px long, pointing north, east, south and west. The split shading makes the star look faceted.

Marquee the star, press Cmd+C and Cmd+V, and name the pasted copy Rose Cardinal (it lands on top). Rename the original underneath Rose Intercardinal.

Cmd-click its thumbnail, pick the Move tool, and drag a corner rotation handle with Cmd held. Cmd snaps rotation to 15° steps, so stop at exactly 45°.

Deselect and Cmd-click the thumbnail again. Hold Cmd and drag a corner scale handle inward until the star is 60% of its size. Nudge it back onto (420, 624) with the arrow keys.

Select the top Rose Cardinal and give it effects:

• Stroke 1 px in cream.
• Drop Shadow with Offset 3, 4, Blur 6, Opacity 60, #050D14.

Rasterize the layer style.

Add Rose North and refill the north point's two halves in #C8503E and #7A2118.

Build the hub from a radius 9 disc:

1. Fill it with #1E1812.
2. Shrink 2 and fill with cream.
3. Shrink 4 and fill with red.

Finally, set an N in IM Fell English SC at 34 px in #F4E9CE. Nudge it so it's centred 22 px above the north tip.

Click Rose Ring, Shift-click Rose N, and choose Layer → Group Layers. Rename the group Compass Rose.

Turn on View → Show Grid and View → Snap to Grid. With the group active, drag it with the Move tool. Every piece travels together and snaps to the grid. Press Cmd+Z to put it back, because the rhumb lines are centred on the original spot. Cmd+Shift+Z and Cmd+Z again check that the move redoes and undoes cleanly. Turn the grid and snapping off.

Add Route above Graticule. Set the Brush to Size 6, Hardness 100, Spacing 200. At 200% spacing every dab stands alone, so the stroke becomes a dotted line.

In #B8322A, click (706, 790) and Shift-click your way through the sea, past the compass, and up the fjord's centre to (772, 320).

Set Spacing back to 10 and draw a 30 px X centred on (792, 318). Give the layer a 2 px cream Stroke so the dots read against the water, then rasterize.

Add Summit and fill a 24 px triangle at (818, 470) with #1E1812. Under it, set Skårtind 1834 m in IM Fell English SC at 18 px.

Click Summit Label so the new layers stay outside the Compass Rose group.

1. Add Ribbon Tails and lasso two swallow-tailed ends. Each one sits 26 px lower than the band and reaches 84 px past it. Fill them #6E1F1A.
2. Fill the small fold triangles #4A150F.
3. Add a 3 px ink Stroke and rasterize.

Add Ribbon and marquee the band from (196, 782) to (1004, 898). Fill it with a near-flat vertical gradient from #AE3A2E to #9A2E26.

For the inner rule:

1. Shrink 7 and fill cream.
2. Shrink 2 and repaint the gradient, leaving a hairline rule.

Add a 3 px ink Stroke and a soft Drop Shadow, then rasterize.

With the Text tool at 64 px, IM Fell English SC and #1E1812, click an empty corner of the canvas and type FJORDS. Press Tab.

In the Text panel, set Letter spacing to 26. Click into the word again, press Cmd+A, and change the colour to #F6ECD2. The selected text updates as you pick. Press Tab.

Centre the word on the capitals, not on its bounding box. The J hangs about 0.28 em below the baseline, so a box-centred word would ride high.

Move it so the caps sit halfway between the inner rules, at y ≈ 840. The J then clears the bottom rule by about 8 px, with about 25 px above and below the caps. Add a crisp Drop Shadow: Offset 2, 3, Blur 0, Opacity 70, #3D0F0A.

Click Plate and set UNCHARTED at 54 px, letter spacing 16, in #1E1812. Press Tab.

Pick the Pen tool. Text on a path starts at the path's first anchor, so the first anchor sets where the word begins. Press at each anchor below and drag to the handle point to pull out a smooth curve. Together they trace a 405 px circle round (600, 600):

1. (367, 269) → (407, 241)
2. (499, 208) → (546, 196)
3. (643, 197) → (691, 202)
4. (782, 238) → (825, 260)
5. (898, 325) → (931, 361)

Click ✓ Commit path. Select the UNCHARTED layer with the Text tool and pick the path in the options bar's Path dropdown. The caps now sit midway between the neatline and the plate's inner rule.

If the word lands a little off centre, deselect the path in the Paths panel and draw a fresh arc a degree or two earlier or later. With the old path selected, Pen clicks edit it instead of starting a new one.

Set EXPEDITION CO. · EST. 1893 at 25 px with letter spacing 5. For text along the bottom, the path must run left to right, so its letters face inward and read the right way up. Its radius is 437 px, so the caps fill the same band as UNCHARTED:

1. (380, 978) → (419, 1000)
2. (506, 1027) → (550, 1036)
3. (640, 1035) → (685, 1031)
4. (771, 1002) → (812, 985)
5. (885, 931) → (919, 902)

Commit the path and bind the text to it.

Set 69°38'N and 18°57'E at 24 px with letter spacing 2. IM Fell has no prime sign, so use a straight apostrophe.

• Latitude: Cmd-click the label's thumbnail, pick the Move tool and click Rotate 90° CCW in the options bar. It now reads upward.
• Longitude: turn it the other way by dragging a rotation handle with Cmd held, which snaps it to exactly 90°.

Centre each label in the rim band, at (175, 600) and (1025, 600).

Select Ribbon, pick Dodge/Burn in Burn mode, and set Exposure 14 and Size 18. Click at (210, 885) and Shift-click at (990, 885) to shade the foot of the ribbon.

Click FJORDS and add Grain. Fill it with #808080, then run Filter → Add Noise… with Mono, Gaussian and Amount 24. Set the layer to Overlay at 28%. The grain gives the flat fills a printed, paper-like tooth.

Turn off View → Show Guides and check the whole emblem. Choose File → Quick Export PNG for the artwork.

A mark this detailed is for print, signage and hero use. For favicons and social avatars, save a simplified version: hide the graticule, waterlines and coordinates, and keep the compass rose and red X on the cream disc.