EyeGlasses: Mapping

Where do popular eyeglass brands come from anyways?

EzontheEye

Eyeglasses are so common now. I’ve worn glasses since I was 7 years old and worn contacts for about five years now. I’ve researched the evolution and invention of glasses which I made into a timeline. Now I want to create something more visual to show readers where common eyeglass brands came from. I decided to show this data on a mapping website called StoryMapJS.

When starting my research for this map I wanted to get the most common and well known eyeglass brands. I went to a website that gave me the names of most of the popular eyeglass brands I included in my map. The brands I chose were Ray-Ban, Gucci, Prada, Persol, Versace, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Coach, Fendi, Kate Spade, Sint Laurent, Tory Burch, Carerra, Nike, Maui Jim, Oakley, Costa Del Mar, Cazal, Warby Parker, Banana Republic, and Vera Wang. Of course there are many other eyeglass brands out there but I chose these for the purpose of my map.

Most of these companies originated in Italy. I found this quite interesting as I wear Persol glasses which are also from Italy. I was quite surprised about the companies that popped up when searching for popular eyeglass brands, as most were first clothing brands. I was most surprised with Prada, Versace, Burberry, and Kate Spade as I’ve only known these companies as clothing brands and not eyeglass brands. However these companies are actually a couple of the most popular eyeglass brands.

Glasses are everywhere. Like most things, most of us wear glasses without the slightest clue of where they came from. It’s interesting and important to know where such amazing technologies come from. For me, I was really curious about where my own glasses came from; thus my map was made.

Map making is both fun and unique while also challenging. I thought that it gave me a creative opportunity to visually show the location of brands, which then allowed for readers to see where the concentration of brands are on a map. It also was compelling in showing the physical distance between brands. It felt very organized and visually appealing. It was a bit challenging as it was very timely and a bit tedious with including pictures and getting the right locations down for each brand, as well as including credits for all the pictures. Though once I was finished I was very pleased with the outcome.

When I created my Timeline for Eyeglasses I was able to get sufficient evidence from fewer sources. This was because when searching about the evolution of eyeglasses it was very linear and concentrated. This was different compared to my research for the map as I had to pull from many different sources as I was researching many different brands. This made me use quite an immense amount of sources as I used a separate source for each brand. This made mapmaking a bit more challenging and timely. Although I did enjoy creating something visual and spatial around eyeglasses that was informative in showing where glasses brands came from in the world, I do prefer making a timeline more. I believe this is because for me, I am able to visualize and understand a timeline easier as it is linear. I also believe that it is more intriguing as each point in time you pass you start to view it as a creative story which makes it more intriguing. I think that also when trying to show the history of something such as a technology, it’s easier for readers to understand in a timeline as it gives specific dates and shows what information is the most relevant and recent.

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