Choroplething...not Chloroplething

This week we focused on choropleth mapping and using proportional and graduated symbols.  The purpose of chorpleth maps is to display information that applies to a single entity like a country, state, or county.  To properly do this though, one has to standardize their data to the entity they are linking it to.  In our map this week, we used Europe as the back drop and our entities were the countries within Europe.  The specific data we displayed on the map was population density or population per square kilometer.  The color scale I chose for the population density was a green color ramp.  I chose this for a couple of reasons:

1. This is a coloration of landmass depicting life (population density) and I felt this was appropriate.  
2. Indirectly, this map will also depict wine consumption in a different symbology and this to me equates to the environment and relaxation, which green adequately represents. 

I will admit that I had to have my wife help pick out the green tones as I am red/green colorblind (amongst other colors) and I had trouble selecting the right one.

The other part of this shows how much wine people in each country drink.  We had to decide whether to use a proportional or graduated symbology.  I chose the graduated symbology and I felt the circles were easier to read and they also didnt take up as much space and overlap like the proportional ones did.  I used a simple blue color for these as I felt that contrasted well with the choropleth map colors.

Some stylized features I added to the map include:

• Blue background to double as water as most of Europe is surrounded by water
• Blue, italicized text for labeling water features
• Drop shadow of the continent adds a little 3D element to the map
• Fancy title text that I felt wine drinkers might identify with, also added a drop shadow

So my map is here below.  Please feel free to add any comments or suggestions.