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This unusual but visually arresting world map provides an
excellent example for examining a map's overall design. Because
of the obvious distortion in this map, the reader is more
receptive to looking for the map's message. The map was prepared
by freelance cartographer Richard Harrison who regularly did
contract work for ''Fortune'' magazine during the late 1930s and
1940s. For this assignment, he prepared a map to illustrate a
series of three articles on the Standard Oil Company of New
Jersey in the April, May, and June 1940 issues of ''Fortune''.
His double-page map was included in the second article
subtitled, "How a great oil company works in time of peace and
how the war is affecting it." The article emphasized the
company's international operations at the beginning of World War
II. Through the combination of a unique projection and creative
symbols, Harrison was able to graphically portray the author's
thesis: "The world of the Jersey compan