A beautiful example of an abstracted rectilinear diagram – everything is evenly spaced, with subtle curves and a lovely complementary rounded typeface. The colours in this diagram work wonderfully well, with “traditional” route colours of Blue, Yellow, Green and Red being given a pastel twist and lovely icons that fit in with Lisbon’s maritime history perfectly. An excellent bi-lingual key and icons pack this map with useful information and all type is set horizontally. The overall effect is light and spacious – and very welcoming.
Have we been there? No.
What we like: The translucent effect as the lines pass over each other is lovely. The icons for each of the lines are beautiful, reflecting the former names of the lines themselves: Blue Line = Seagull, Yellow Line = Sunflower, Green Line = Caravel, Red Line = Orient (or East).
What we don’t like: Perhaps not enough geographical cues for out-of-town visitors – the abstractness of the diagram makes it a little too divorced from reality and perhaps difficult to use for sightseeing. The Metro logo seems placed in a very odd location – I think over underneath the “Network Diagram” text on the left may have worked better.
Our rating: Abstract and rational, yet still lovely and very welcoming. Beautifully designed, but at a slight cost to those who don’t use the system every day. Four stars.