Submitted by ‘theotherspica’, who says:

I’m an amateur designer and, having had some free time during the pandemic, decided to try and make my first metro map. I found your site very useful while making the map. Thank you for your amazing collection of helpful tips and examples that helped me avoid many first-time mistakes I would otherwise have made.

This map is based on official info and speculation. My speculations and assumptions are based on press releases and official statements, so nothing in this map is too unreasonable. In all likelihood, about 80% of this map may be a reality in 10 years’ time.

I’ve designed it to be used by regular commuters, and not necessarily to sell the idea to people. Therefore, I’ve tried to design it for practical use and I’ve tried to make it minimalist but not boring. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ways to improve it.

Transit Maps says:

I’m so glad that this website was helpful in your first transit mapping endeavour, and I think it’s turned out pretty nicely as well! You’ve definitely done a good job of untangling the denser parts of the proposed network, and the mode differentiation between metro (solid lines) and commuter rail (cased) works well. Overall, it perhaps leans a little too much on the much-imitated London Tube design style, but I think almost everyone starts there before developing their own style: I know I did!

The full list of stations and their grid reference are a nice addition to a comprehensive legend, though I think the type is a bit small and could fit into the available space a bit better. Also, be wary of old style numerals (where the descenders drop below the baseline) in tabular information like this: it can make those grid references harder to read. If the font supports it (and many modern OpenType fonts do), set this information using tabular lining numerals instead. None of the digits will drop below the baseline, and all of them will take up the same width, making those grid references line up underneath each other far more neatly. This setting can be found in the OpenType options palette in InDesign and Illustrator, so check it out.

The complaint about small type continues to the labelling, especially the tiny text naming the lines – for something that’s meant to aid accessibility, it’s just far too small to be useful. Many transit maps use larger bullets with a letter or number representing the line’s designation at each terminus, which I generally think is more effective than tiny labels along the line itself.

Finally, I’m not entirely sure about the typeface used for the map’s title – Montserrat is a hard-working sans serif, but its alternate characters are definitely an acquired taste, especially that capital-slash-lowercase “M” and the curved “T”.

Our final word: For a first effort, this is really rather good! The bones of the map are solid, and most of the improvements really have to do with typography – which is often underlooked in transit map design. Keep at it!