The Map is the Story

What happens when a map stops being a guide and becomes part of the adventure itself? This talk explores the creation of a comic trail map that reimagined the traditional event map as an illustrated story. Rather than following roads and symbols on a page, participants navigated by recognising landmarks woven into the narrative, encouraging them to explore familiar surroundings with fresh eyes. The result was a trail where discovery became part of the journey, transforming navigation into an act of curiosity. The session follows the project’s development from the initial concept to the finished publication, examining the creative decisions behind blending storytelling, illustration and practical wayfinding into a single experience. It also reveals how custom software enabled a marriage of technology and art, opening new creative possibilities while ensuring the final work remained driven by human imagination and editorial judgement. Ultimately, this is a story about questioning what an event trail map can be. By turning a functional guide into the heart of the experience, the project invited people not simply to find their way, but to rediscover the place around them through narrative, exploration and play.