This is a map I created showing the main countries exporting seed to Tanzania. I wanted to give the map some depth so I used the 3-D features in Illustrator to give a sort of bird’s eye view of the region. I then placed the dotted lines and arrows individually. The subtle shadow effect was made by copying the lines and arrows and using a Gaussian blur. Illustrator has a built-in shadow effect, but it looks very wonky if you try to use it with curved lines. Making the shadows by hand gives much more control and the effect is much more polished.