The third lab in our Cartographic Skills course built upon the previous introduction to Adobe Illustrator as well as giving us further practice in making well-designed maps. This lab did not call for using ArcGIS, forcing us to complete our design solely in Illustrator using the supplied layers.
The instructions for this lab provided some very useful tools for the required task. In particular, using the 'direct selection' tool to simultaneously change the color of multiple counties as well as the corresponding legend panel was a greatly appreciated tip. For the most part, however, we were encouraged to use the basics we have already learned to explore the many options of Illustrator. Even with my currently limited knowledge of the program, I can already see how Illustrator allows cartographers to create more visually pleasing maps than ArcMap; even a simple drop-shadow looks much better when done in Illustrator than in ArcMap.
The only real difficulty I experienced was at the end of the lab; while finalizing the map elements, I spent some time not understanding why I could not select an individual county to correct an earlier mistake. I finally realized that, even though the "Florida Hispanic" layer was unlocked, the sublayer (also labeled "Florida Hispanic") remained locked. I had made the assumption (unwarranted, it turns out) that unlocking the highest layer would unlock all layers contained therein. I learn something new every day.
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