When my dad and I began working on our first map, ‘A History of Aotearoa New Zealand,’ we never planned for anyone to see it except my brother and his students. In 2017, as my brother was completing his Master's in Teaching, my dad and I decided we wanted to create something to celebrate his achievement. I studied design and have a love for history, while my dad studied history and has a love for design, so we thought we had the perfect pairing of skills and interests to create something unique for him to hang in his History and Social Studies classroom.
But how did we go from there to creating a metro map-inspired history of our nation? For a number of years, my dad had been experimenting with the semiotics of metro maps to capture and communicate concepts and connections in his work. Metro maps are used across the world to make complex transport networks easily readable. However, before the 1930s, metro maps, like all other maps, were geographical. This changed with Harry Beck and his London Tube map. Beck’s map emphasised connections between lines rather than the physical space and location of the lines, completely revolutionising how we visualise train networks. My dad’s thought was, ‘Why couldn’t we take that same thinking, that same design language, and use it for other complex networks?’And so, when the thought came to make something for Jeremy, we decided to try and make a history of Aotearoa New Zealand map, where the train lines would be historical themes and the stations would be people, events, and legislation.
We began working on the map over the 2017 Christmas break. Dad had a pretty good idea of the primary historical themes we wanted to map, as well as the key events. We drew these out on a large piece of paper and then got to work researching the themes and filling them out with stations.
Progress was slow, however, and the deadline of Jeremy’s graduation passed without a finished map. Other priorities, like study and work, got in the way, so we promised him the map for Christmas 2018. I wish I could tell you that we hit that deadline, or the next, and it quickly became a joke within the family that we would have the map done for Jeremy’s next Christmas or birthday present. Thought Dad and I did manage to get out of a few years of presents this way. In some ways, the lockdowns of 2020 were a blessing for completing the map, as it finally gave us the space to put our heads down and finish it off. At our wider family Christmas at the end of the year, we presented the finished map to Jeremy, all twelve lines and 200 stations. He loved it, and so did the rest of the whānau. That was our first indication that we might have something.
Once complete, we had several friends and family ask for a copy. We did an initial print run of 100 to give away for a koha, and all 100 went. That was our second indication that we definitely had something. So we returned to the design. The first map caught a lot, but there was definitely a lot we could add. Jeremy got involved this time, and cheered on by Mum, the three of us went about redesigning the map. For about six months, we researched, discussed, and validated every station, line, and interchange on the map. The final map, the one you can buy today, is almost double the size of the original map, with 22 lines and over 400 stations.
After finishing ‘A History of Aotearoa New Zealand,’ and taking a much-needed break, we started to discuss what our next map could be. The answer came quite easily. When creating our first map, particularly the Sports line, we were struck by the sheer variety of sports and success we have had internationally. We decided New Zealand’s sport history was fruitful ground for another map. As of writing this—the 12th of August 2024—we have just finished a year-long project of mapping our sporting history, with the final few stations we added being the success we have had at the Paris Olympics.
As kids, whether it was at the dinner table or on the morning drive to school, Dad would discuss history with me and my brother. Authors like King, Belich, and Orange were on our living room bookcase, and we would always be reminded that the 5th of November wasn’t just Guy Fawkes Day but also the anniversary of Parihaka. There was always an acknowledgement of the past and its importance. Our maps’ kaupapa—to bring history into every home and classroom in Aotearoa New Zealand—comes from this, and we hope that it will lead to similar discussions.
Matt Smith (Designer @ The Smithy)
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