Jay Foreman & Mark Cooper-Jones | Map Men: This Way Up | Talks at Google

Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones, the duo behind the "Map Men" YouTube series, discussed transitioning their comedic, geography-focused show into the book This Way Up. They detailed the creative challenges of converting a visual comedy act into print, their collaborative writing process, and their philosophy on how maps inherently shape human perception.

• Friendship origins — The pair met on the live comedy circuit, though they cannot recall the exact moment their partnership began [02:32].

  • Jay was a YouTuber covering infrastructure.
  • Mark was a geography teacher performing stand-up comedy.
  • Mark pitched the "Map Men" title, drawing inspiration from Mad Men.

• Book production — Creating a 90,000-word book required finding ways to replicate their visual-heavy YouTube humor on the page [05:46].

  • They included footnotes, doodles, and redacted text to maintain a chaotic tone.
  • They integrated Spotify playlists to guide the reader through chapters.

• Audiobook difficulties — The recording process proved strenuous, particularly when adapting a chapter parodying true-crime podcasts [10:25].

  • Mark struggled to maintain a consistent American accent for the duration of the chapter.
  • Jay had to perform all sound effects, such as marching footsteps and animal noises, during the recording.

• Mapping philosophy — All maps are subjective, as they require distortion to represent the world on a flat surface [16:59].

  • Maps are not objective truths but tools that often reflect the agenda of the creator.
  • They shape how people imagine locations; for example, a map designed for birds would prioritize tree density over street names.

• Creative independence — The duo writes, edits, and produces their work alone, which creates their distinctively rough, DIY aesthetic [19:32].

  • They are currently looking for ways to balance this heavy workload with their desire to create more content.
  • They prefer taking dull, complex topics and turning them into engaging stories.

• How does the authors' approach to research change when they move from a video format to a written book?

• What impact does the ubiquity of digital map services have on how the general public perceives the world?