Visual Narrative - responding to research

To start producing work for my book, I initially drew out some of the symbols on the map I had found. I like the fact that they are purely functional, practical and mechanical, yet they can look so aesthetically appealing and interesting. The symmetry and order of them is really interesting, and the textures and tones built up with the uniformed lines makes it as if they are artistic images, rather than mechanical ones.

Tessellating these symbols with other drawings from my trips and observations turned out fairly boring and uninspiring though. I feel like a typographic layout can be predictable and the easy option, something I did not want to pursue. 

What I do like is the way that taking certain things out of context and putting them next to the symbols almost changes the way they are read. For example the pylon and a part of a pylon on the left become simple symbols, rather than representational drawings.