Month: December 2013

Tutorial: Harnessing the Power of Illustrator’s “Symbols” Feature in Transit Map Design

December 31, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Tutorials
Tags:

Imagine this scenario: you’ve been working for months on a complex transit map – lots of interchanges and routes – for a big-city transit agency and you’re presenting it to their management team for approval. They love it, except they’d like the circular interchange markers you’ve used to be square with rounded edges instead. And they’d like to see the revised version in an hour. If you’ve used standard Illustrator artwork for each of your […]

Fantasy Map: New York Subway Map in the Style of Washington DC’s Metro Map by Chris Whong

December 30, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Fantasy Maps, Mash-Up Maps
Tags:

Yes, it only shows Manhattan and The Bronx with small parts of Brooklyn and Queens, but this is still a pretty awesome mash-up. Aesthetically, it’s a dead ringer for the Washington, DC Metro map – big, fat route lines, the “double ring” interchange stations, green areas for parkland, etc. Nice work from Chris to mimic this style so closely! While the map looks great, it really also shows how unsuited the bold, simplistic approach taken […]

Fantasy Map: In-Car Strip Map for Fictional Indianapolis “CITI” Red Line

December 28, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Fantasy Maps
Tags:

A lesson in how not to add station labels to a strip map: type at five different angles makes things incredibly hard to read. Also not to be recommended for legibility is the all-caps treatment of station names. This would work much better if the route line was pushed to the top of the strip, with all stations spaced equally and type set at one consistent angle across the entire diagram. Source: A2DAC1985/Flickr

Aerial View of Manhattan with Subway/Rail Lines by Arnorian

December 26, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

arnorian: A skyview of Manhattan with overlaid subway and rail lines. 7 Subway Extension, the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway, and East Side Access included. Another fantastic aerial photo/subway routes mash-up from Arnorian – a companion piece to this very popular piece that shows more of New York and New Jersey. What I really like about this is that you can make out individual buildings and streets quite easily – the Empire State […]

Historical Map: AC Transit Route Map, 1967

December 26, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

Sweet illustrated map of bus routes in the East Bay, including a multitude of transbay services: I count 16 crossing the Bay Bridge to San Francisco! As with all maps of this ilk, the fun part is finding all the little details in the illustrations that are liberally scattered throughout (My favourite is probably the sailor who is busily chatting up the cute nurse at the top centre of the map). The subtle painted texture […]

Tutorial: Creating Multiple Parallel Route Lines using Art Brushes

December 24, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Tutorials
Tags:

Last week’s tip about using the Offset Path command in Illustrator to create multiple parallel paths was very well received, but reader Leah left a comment saying that she finds using Art Brushes quicker and easier. If nothing else, it’s good to be reminded that there are always different ways to achieve the same result!  Setting up an Art Brush for what we want to do is actually pretty simple. Simply create a short section […]

Unofficial Map: Toilet Map for Stockholm Metro Travellers by Pruek Lawchaiyapruek, 2013

December 20, 2013
comment 1
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps, Visualizations
Tags:

A light-hearted and off-beat map/infographic for you today – one that shows the distance, type and cost of public toilets near metro stations in Stockholm, Sweden. Hopefully, the map was not borne out of Pruek’s inability to find a facility when in dire need! The graphic is nicely put together, and functions well as both a (simple) transit map and an informational graphic. It has one of the nicest examples of “candy-striping” the route lines […]

Infographic: Circle Loop Lines of the World by Matthew Lew

December 19, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Visualizations
Tags:

Very aesthetically appealing infographic that compares 18 circle railway lines from around the world. The top part of the graphic displays the lines in a schematic fashion, representing each by its average diameter. The stations that comprise each line are then simply spaced evenly around the circumference to create a very striking pattern. Stations that interchange with other lines are represented by placing a small white dot in the centre of a station’s marker. Below, […]