State mapmaker brings creativity, whimsy to Ohio road maps

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — If your summer travel plans involve traveling through Ohio and you're still a fan of paper maps, it's time you meet Bruce Hull.

He's the guy who's been injecting visual flair, handy information and a hidden bit of his own family history into Ohio's road maps for almost two decades. Hull's artistry has appeared on millions of maps helping drivers navigate the state, which has the nation's busiest highway system after California, Texas and Florida.

As a layout design artist with the Ohio Department of Transportation since 1989, Hull has creative control over the map's look and feel. He selects the images, the design, the paper, even the type of fold that's used.

"Initially, my goal was to go to either New York, Chicago or San Francisco, because those were the big advertising meccas at the time," said Hull, 60, who studied advertising at the Columbus College of Art & Design. "Then life happened."

Hull fell in love, got married and had a daughter.

He also happened to like the variety of his job in communications at the Transportation Department, putting together posters, newsletters, in-house publications and visual panels for road, rail and motorcycle maps that, back then, were assembled by an outside consultant.

In those early days, photos were black-and-white, film was developed in labs, layouts were by hand and color was added using sheets of film cut to fit. Anything resembling desktop publishing was a thing of the future.

"Nothing was ever too technical because it was just impossible to do at the time," said Hull.

The first map he designed on his own came in 2001-2002. That's also when Hull began what would become an inside joke on the maps: including a photo of his daughter.

"Because we had seat belt laws, I was looking for a stock...