Submitted by Ilya, whose previous work has been featured here on the blog.

Figuring that a schematic diagram of a single line subway system is little more than a glorified list (which is basically true), Ilya and Pasha have instead created a rather lovely stylised – but geographically faithful – map of Ekaterinburg’s simple Metro system. In a way, it reminds me of turn-of-the-20th-century railway maps, where the route lines would literally be overprinted onto an existing street map of the city. 

The bold black route stands out perfectly from the subtle shades of the background, which includes streets, parks, the river Iset (beautifully rendered) and the most prominent landmark of all, the abandoned and unfinished 220-metre tall TV Tower. Exits are shown and numbered for each station, and a full list of connecting buses, trolleybuses and trams is also provided – useful information! My only minor complaint is that the grey text used for the Roman transliteration of each station’s name is perhaps a little light, especially at Geologicheskaya, where the background is the most detailed. I’d also like to see the transliteration directly adjacent to the Cyrillic name, rather than being separated by the connecting services information, just to reinforce their relationship to each other.

Our rating: A lovely solution for a small single-line system. Pleasing to look at and full of useful information. Four stars!

Source: Ilya’s project website