Here’s a rare example of an illustrated strip map, used above the doors on the Gold Coast’s G:Link light rail vehicles in Australia. Despite my self-professed preference for clean, minimalist, ordered design, I actually love this map to bits.

Why? Because “sense of place” and community are the absolute winners here. The two-colour illustration style is charming and whimsical, while the instantly recognisable landmarks link the whole coast together from north to south. Most importantly, people are shown smiling and having fun, which is what the Gold Coast is meant to be about. I particularly like the way that the lining “route line” becomes breaking waves when the route gets nearer to the beaches. Fun!

Of course, this approach only works because the G:Line has one route: you can just read the big, bold and unmissable station names from one end of the map to the other to find your stop. Any split in the line to a different destination would be too hard to read with this illustration style.

Our rating: When you have but a single LRT line, you can have a bit of fun with the way it’s shown on a map. Joyous, bright and fun! Four stars.

Source: Brent Toderian/Twitter