THINKING
Continuing the concept of composite comparative geography maps, I made this one with the same techniques used for the Comparative Size of Lakes.
As with the lakes map, this collection of a few interesting, favorite, or related islands, is inspired by the Colton diagrams from the 1850s. A few other designers have done some beautiful work along this same theme. A diagram at Beautiful Maps has a powerful simplicity with the black silhouettes, while the hundred largest islands by Visual Capitalist is really stunning. And MetaBallStudios has done an island comparison video along with many other great animated comparisons.
That said, there is something appealing to me about the Colton-style arrangement and juxtaposition instead of the neat rows ordered by size. Not only does it pack the page better, but it has that deliberate disorientation that I enjoy in forcing the viewer to look with new eyes at what is mapped.
I am seeing this very much as a version 1.0 sketch: I'd like to add more islands and depict topography in the next version.