diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/designspaceLib/__init__.py b/Lib/fontTools/designspaceLib/__init__.py
index 02cc05811..57c0c0b06 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/designspaceLib/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/designspaceLib/__init__.py
@@ -1128,11 +1128,14 @@ class DesignSpaceDocument(LogMixin, AsDictMixin):
         self.rules.append(ruleDescriptor)
 
     def newDefaultLocation(self):
+        """Return default location in design space."""
         # Without OrderedDict, output XML would be non-deterministic.
         # https://github.com/LettError/designSpaceDocument/issues/10
         loc = collections.OrderedDict()
         for axisDescriptor in self.axes:
-            loc[axisDescriptor.name] = axisDescriptor.default
+            loc[axisDescriptor.name] = axisDescriptor.map_forward(
+                axisDescriptor.default
+            )
         return loc
 
     def updateFilenameFromPath(self, masters=True, instances=True, force=False):
diff --git a/Tests/designspaceLib/data/test.designspace b/Tests/designspaceLib/data/test.designspace
index 9f97ab57c..901a0ee06 100644
--- a/Tests/designspaceLib/data/test.designspace
+++ b/Tests/designspaceLib/data/test.designspace
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@
       <labelname xml:lang="en">Wéíght</labelname>
       <labelname xml:lang="fa-IR">قطر</labelname>
     </axis>
-    <axis tag="wdth" name="width" minimum="0" maximum="1000" default="20" hidden="1">
+    <axis tag="wdth" name="width" minimum="0" maximum="1000" default="15" hidden="1">
       <labelname xml:lang="fr">Chasse</labelname>
       <map input="0" output="10"/>
+      <map input="15" output="20"/>
       <map input="401" output="66"/>
       <map input="1000" output="990"/>
     </axis>
diff --git a/Tests/designspaceLib/designspace_test.py b/Tests/designspaceLib/designspace_test.py
index 30bbfa0c5..2d01c6598 100644
--- a/Tests/designspaceLib/designspace_test.py
+++ b/Tests/designspaceLib/designspace_test.py
@@ -66,10 +66,10 @@ def test_fill_document(tmpdir):
     a2 = AxisDescriptor()
     a2.minimum = 0
     a2.maximum = 1000
-    a2.default = 20
+    a2.default = 15
     a2.name = "width"
     a2.tag = "wdth"
-    a2.map = [(0.0, 10.0), (401.0, 66.0), (1000.0, 990.0)]
+    a2.map = [(0.0, 10.0), (15.0, 20.0), (401.0, 66.0), (1000.0, 990.0)]
     a2.hidden = True
     a2.labelNames[u'fr'] = u"Chasse"
     doc.addAxis(a2)