Photo: BART System Map
Lovely minimalist photo of the platform at North Berkeley BART station. But where is everbody? Source: myelectricsheep/Flickr
Author: Cameron Booth
Unofficial Map: Crosscut’s Seattle Link Light Rail Strip Map
Crosscut, a non-profit news website centered on Washington State’s Puget Sound Region, has been talking about Link light rail’s signage for a while now. Their point about the minimal directional signage at SeaTac Airport to guide you to the train is valid, but their problem with Link’s own in-car strip map is less well founded. They recently called for new designs as part of a competition, but unfortunately didn’t receive any. So they took it […]
The Almost Official Map: Ilya Birman’s Moscow Metro Map
I’ve seen a lot of tweets recently linking to the design process page for Art Lebedev’s new official Moscow Metro map (Transit Maps wrote about this page way back on February 4th). However, I haven’t seen as much attention being paid to the second-place winning map, designed by Ilya Birman. He also has a design process page for his map, and it’s just as fascinating as the Lebedev one. He discusses the difficulty of having […]
Submission – Official Map: Josephine County Transit Bus Map, Oregon
Submitted by Matthew Harris, who says: This is the official transit map for Grants Pass, Oregon (Josephine County) and it will supersede your German map (February 2013, 0 stars) as the worst transit map. Transit Maps says: I knew it!!! I knew as soon as I gave a score of zero, something else would appear that was even worse. A blurry, muddy, incomprehensible mess without any useful labeling at all. The inclusion of property boundaries on […]
Photo: Los Angeles Rail Maps
Great photo showing how the LA Metro maps are part of a larger, unified, wayfinding system. Consistency of typography and brand are key – note how the titles of each map are in the same location and typeface every time, as is the Metro logo: colour is the main differentiator of information. Source: yreese/Flickr
London Underground Abstract: Barbican by Nick Saltmarsh
I’m totally loving this series of work by Nick Saltmarsh on Flickr. By zooming right in on details of the Tube Map, he makes us take another look at something that’s so familiar and ubiquitous. Check out the full set here. Some are more successful than others, but all are interesting… and some make awesome abstract art pieces.
Official Map: Bus System of Meiningen, Germany
Submitted by Heikki Salko, who says: You keep mentioning how “there must be something worse out there.” Personally I like to think it will always hold true, but I’d still like to see your opinion on this official map from a small German town. Someone linked to it in a discussion about line numbering/naming systems, but I have to admit I didn’t quite have the courage to try figuring out that much detail… As a […]
Official Maps: In-Car Strip Maps for Loop or Circle Lines
An anonymous follower asks: “Do you have any examples of a line map for a loop/circle line? I’m curious as to how those are implemented.” Transit Maps says: Generally, a strip map for a loop or circle line follows much the same principles as a usual one, although the available space may have to be used a little more creatively in order to fit things in. Above are a few interesting examples. London’s Circle Line: […]
Historical Map: 1970 NYMTA Graphics Standards Manual “Inside Line Map”
Yummy excerpt from the Massimo Vignelli/Unimark 1970 style guide, showing style and dimensions for in-car strip maps, using the “E” line as an example. Look at how everything is defined precisely and consistently: there’s absolutely no room for misinterpretation here. Want to see more from the manual? Check out this great Flickr photoset. Source: Blue Pencil
Unofficial Map: “Barcelona Tourist Guide” Metro Map
As you should know, official transit maps are copyrighted materials. Commercial reproduction of the map by third parties normally requires permission and payment of a licence fee – often a hefty one. A lot of people don’t want to pay that fee, so they design their own version of the map instead. This can result in maps that are eerily similar to the official one, nicely designed but different maps, or horrendous monstrosities. Guess which […]