Arthur H. Robinson - The Look of Maps (1952)

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If we then make the obvious assumption that the content of a map is appropriate to its purpose, there yet remains the equally significant evaluation of the visual methods employed to convey that content.

Arthur H. Robinson
Most scientific cartography is concerned with the dissemination of spatial knowledge.

Arthur H. Robinson
The development of design principles based on objective visual tests, experience, and logic; the pursuit of research in the physiological and psychological effects of color; and investigations in perceptibility and readability in typography are being carried on in other fields... such a movement in cartography cannot fail to materialize

Arthur H. Robinson
Until such time as logic and objective research concerning the relative efficiency of the various possibilities is undertaken, the cartographer can but rely on the experience and direction of the artist.

Arthur H. Robinson
The assumption that effective cartographic technique and its evaluation is based in part on some subjective artistic or aesthetic sense on the part of the cartographer and map reader is somewhat disconcerting. For example, E. Raisz claims that the effective use of lines or colors requires artistic judgment, and J. K. Wright explains that the suitability of a symbol depends on the map maker's taste and sense of harmony. Throughout the literature there are numerous similar assertions regarding the assumed subjective aesthetic and artistic content of cartography.

Arthur H. Robinson
There is also a considerable tendency to define the subject as a kind of meeting place of science and art. This is exemplified by Eckert. He pleads for artistic imagination and intuition in cartographic portrayal and claims that the inter-action of such talents with scientific geography produces the aesthetic map. There is no question about the importance of imagination and new ideas, but it is equally important that significant processes be objectively investigated, whether it be the visual consumption of a graphic technique or a process in geomorphology. It can perhaps best be approached by a comparison of the aims, techniques involved, and the results accomplished by each activity

Arthur H. Robinson
While doing illustrative work for Roderick Peattie, from him I learned the value of the unorthodox.

Arthur H. Robinson
Our experience in the Cartographic Section of the [OSS Map] Division clearly showed that the creation of a special purpose map was frequently as much a problem in design as it was a problem in substantive compilation.

Arthur H. Robinson