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 […]
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 […]
Okay, this is nothing short of amazing. Drawing a complex transit system map is hard enough, even with computers and the precise drawing/drafting tools they offer. To draw something like this by hand and have it look so clean and accurate beggars belief. Love love love. Click through to view a whole set of images of this remarkable piece on Flickr. Source: Flickr/chuwasg
This post comes about because of an email from an anonymous follower, who says: “Any idea if a unified San Francisco transit map exists somewhere out there, perhaps a la the Portland one? SF has to have one of the more confusing transit systems in the country, what with Caltrain + BART + Muni + cable cars + the F line.” As it happens, there are plenty of unofficial maps showing both just the City […]
Feeling creative? Why not make a string art replica of your favourite subway system as shown in this awesome video? The pro tip is definitely the taping down of the actual map before putting in the nails for guaranteed fidelity to the real thing. Source: Dan Coffey/Vimeo
Apparently, circular Tube Maps are like London buses – none come forever, then two arrive at the same time. This one is by Maxwell Roberts, an expert on the London Underground map if there ever was one. He’s personally redrawn multiple, multiple versions of the map in just about every possible configuration, just to see what works and what doesn’t. Many are featured in his excellent book, Underground Maps Unravelled, which I promise I’ll review properly […]
Here’s an interesting new look at the London Underground from architect/designer/writer Jonny Fisher. It’s always fun when someone reinterprets something as well known as this: every designer approaches the same problem differently. For me, this map isn’t wholly successful, but it’s definitely thought-provoking. Have we been there? Yes. What we like: A bold attempt at a redesign of possibly the most well-known transit map of all. The “orbital” theme actually makes a lot of sense: […]
Further to my post regarding the unofficial “guerrilla” Moscow Metro map, Twitter correspondent @dars_dm has given me links to the maps produced by the three finalists in the official competition for a new Metro Map. I’ve reproduced them here for your edification. In order, they’re produced by Artemy Lebedev, Ilya Birman and Anton Mizinov and are all very strong in their own way. I’ll confess that I’ve had a huge soft spot for the Lebedev […]
My previous post about the “map bombing” of the Moscow Metro has had a lot of interest, so I thought I’d pass on the fact that the original partizaning.org article about it has been translated properly into English on their site. Well worth a read. And as a bonus, you can download your own PDF of the map, or the Illustrator .ai file and fonts required to edit it yourself.
Last year, the Moscow Metro introduced a completely new official map, which featured 30-degree angles. Put simply, it went down like a lead balloon (link in Russian), forcing the authorities to hastily organise a competition for another brand new design. However, some people decided they didn’t want to enter what’s essentially a no-spec design “contest” (there’s no payment for the winner, just thanks for a job well done) and set about designing their own map independently… […]
