The Mau Kun Map

For my graphics project I decided create a multi - functioning product. This final piece was composed with idea to use a range of influences, including Chinese art and art nouveau, in order to display a collision of two art forms. My final idea was to create a puzzle board which also functioned as a piece of interactive art. Using inspirations from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' "Mau Kun Map', also known as the 'navigational charts, I took the idea of the individually rotating rings, which when aligned together created an image or phrase hidden within the puzzles design.

By inverting the original colours of the map, the highlighted areas can be seen more clearly, giving the impression that the map has been x rayed. 

Size comparison between final piece and first prototype 

Colour was a very important aspect of the puzzles design, as it had to play the role of keeping the puzzle both interesting to look at and aesthetically pleasing. 

These colour were mainly used in the puzzle board to section off natural areas of the map, these include forests and jungles.

These water colours were used as a basis for the entire design. As you can see from the images above these colours were used alot through out the different 'rings' on the map/puzzle. They were mainly used on the 'world' ring which focus heavily on the used of reds and oranges.

These tones of colours were included through out the final piece above, but were mainly used to  create the terrain of the mountain ranges and land formations.

This image shows how three different rings, when rotated in the right way can form an image, in this case its an island called the rift. The Chinese lettering through out this map has all be translated into the phrases next to them, using Google Translate.

This is an actual star chart from one of the first recorded star maps in ancient china. The Chinese lettering around the edges of the chart represent each one of the four element,starting from the left, earth, water, fire, air.

This is an example of how words can be overlapped on two different rings to hide them when the individual rings are turned.

This is a mythological creature known as a 'Griffin', I chose to use this as imagery in my final piece because it share close relation with the 'Land of Dreams' ring. which can be seen in the image above next to the image of the Griffin.

This was my first visual concept painting of the 'Mau Kun Map', although I stayed true to the use of water colour, this version of the puzzle/map does not actually rotate like the final product from above. This painting was mainly created in order to be used as a visual key to what the final design would look like. In terms of imagery, I focused heavily on the use of star charts and sailing maps to portray a sense of journey through the individual 'world' rings. I also used chinese script to name and separate different 'sectors' of the map, this created separate boundries between places and allows words and phrases to be cloaked with the chinese language.

This was my first prototype I created during the design process. I used water colour as the backdrop to each of the rotating rings, this gave each ring a sense of individuality while still maintaining the role of working as one finished product. Each ring rotates individually to reveal imagery and disguised words. Imagery that can be seen in this version of the puzzle/map are different countries, skulls, long boats, animals and star charts.