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Submitted by Hayden, who says:

This is a fantasy map of what one day could be the urban rail network in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I’ve been working on this for the last few months, and many of your posts (especially tutorials) have been extremely helpful – I would love to hear your thoughts on the final product. Thanks 🙂

Transit Maps says:

Now this I like! 

A fantasy map that’s not afraid to step out of the shadow of the fairly pedestrian official map (June 2014, 3 stars) and create something new. The thin route lines and generous curves reminds me of the Metro de Porto’s system map (April 2012, 3.5 stars). Hayden’s map does share one fault with that map, though – overall, I find the typography a little on the small side.

Wisely, Hayden has decided to limit the scope of the map to the Brisbane-only portion of southeast Queensland’s rail network, which enables him to show the city proper at a decent scale. For the regional parts of the network, Hayden makes liberal use of station lists pointing off the edges of the map. A couple of these lists are quite a lengthy read, but overall, this approach works quite well.

The use of extra angles help Hayden piece together the network quite convincingly and there’s a nice languid flow to the whole map. Even the convoluted path of the Brisbane River seems calmer on this map than on the official one. I often talk about getting the route lines and background to match stylistically to make the map look like a unified whole, and Hayden’s done an excellent job here of doing just that.

I’m a little less convinced by the zone boundary treatment, which seems a little ostentatious and showy compared to the restrained minimalism of the rest of the map. A simpler way of numbering the two zones could be found with a little work, I think. Similarly, I find the thick blue border around the legend to be too heavy and visually dominant.

Overall, though, this is really excellent work – a fresh look at a potential future for Brisbane! Nice work, Hayden!