House of the Dragon
Targaryen Map
Project
Create a new world map asset to be used within the House of the Dragon Viewer’s Guide and accompanying media
The asset was created in-house over the course of four weeks by a small team of designers at HBO, saving costs on hiring an outside contractor. The process also involved the collaboration of multiple internal teams and a design agency, Known, the latter responsible for creating the Viewer’s Guide and integrating our artwork into the codebase of the site.
Within the Viewer’s Guide experience, icons and text are displayed responsively, enhancing the viewer experience whether they were zoomed fully into the map or observing the map in it’s entirety. The map also contains dozens of “easter egg” illustrations, encouraging adventurous viewers to spend time within the experience exploring and discovering.
Viewer’s Guide
The primary usage of the Targaryen Map was for the House of the Dragon Viewer’s Guide, which had a section on the site where users could explore the world of the show and find useful information about the setting.
George R.R. Martin Map Video
After creating the map asset and implementing it on the Viewer’s Guide, we were tasked with adapting the map for use in a social media post with George R.R. Martin, the original writer and creator of the setting.
Additional graphic elements such as ships, flags, and trade routes were animated onto the map to help viewers follow the interview audio. Atmospheric elements such as clouds and dust particles were included to enhance the 3D movements of the camera.
Dragonstone Map
Near the end of the first season of the show, the location of Dragonstone was given heightened narrative importance, and a video about the island was created. We were tasked with making a new map asset in the same style of the Targaryen map used in the Viewer’s Guide. This map asset was animated and sent to our Creative Services team to implement in the final video.
The main challenge to be overcome with this task was it’s tight deadline. We re-used source material from the Targaryen Map to speed up the development process, and implemented lessons learned earlier on similar projects in order to complete this task on time.
Process
To avoid stock photo license violations, we photographed slate rock-faces in New York City’s parks and sidewalks for use as textures, blending them together into authentic land and sea-forms.
Icons and locations were carefully researched and placed accurately on the map according to the time period of the series. This step was critical, any errors would be swiftly discovered by the passionate fanbase of the show.
“Easter egg” illustrations were scattered and hidden around the map, each drawn by hand in simple line-form to increase legibility on a heavily-textured map.