Submitted by Alec, who says:

Long-time reader here with my first submission, a redesign of Atlanta’s MARTA rail system.

I’ve always been puzzled as to why the colors in MARTA’s logo don’t reflect those of the lines. For this map, I’ve “rebranded” the line colors, which has the added benefit of making them easier to distinguish for those with colorblindness. I’ve named the lines after their unique terminals, which erases the potential confusion for tourists or first-time riders of which branch goes where.

Transit Maps says:

There’s a lot to like in Alec’s reworking of Atlanta’s rapid rail transit network — a minimalist look with really nice typography, definitely evoking a very mid-century design feel. There are a few elements that are at odds with that simplicity, like the attempt to show the actual routing of the Atlanta Streetcar and the overly fussy right-angled bends that the northern end of the Orange Line takes past Medical Center. Without having to show the relationship of those stations to Atlanta’s highway network like the official map does, I feel that this whole section could just be straightened out. With a simplified diagram like this that obviously draws influence from his work, it’s good to ask, “What would Massimo Vignelli have done here?” — the answer would almost always be to simplify down to the absolute barest of elements.

I like Alec’s reworking of the line colours, both because it brings them in line with MARTA’s branding (as he notes), but it also makes the service relationships between the pairs of lines more obvious. The two warm colours share a trunk line, as do the two colder colours. If anything, it might be good to swap the orange and yellow line colours, just to give the stronger colour to the line that has service along its full length at all times. The yellow then belongs to the line that gets cut back to serve as a shuttle in the evenings, similar to the treatment of the lighter blue line along the east-west trunk. Finally — as Alec says — the colours do work better for colour-blind users, as seen below in comparison to the official map (left). With only four clearly-labelled lines, this isn’t a huge issue for Atlanta, but it’s nice to see that it’s been a design consideration for Alec.

Alec’s solution to the different service patterns is in line with the minimalist principles of the map (white dot = full time service, white hollow dot = daytime service, white hollow diamond = daytime service on weekdays only), although the diamond is perhaps visually a little too similar to the hollow circle on first glance. A little further exploration of symbols to come up with something more immediately and obviously different could be good.

I’m not entirely sold by Alec’s naming of the lines, which seems potentially confusing to me: an announcement like “This is a Doraville Line train to the Airport” seems almost certain to cause panic among those unfamiliar with the system. Likewise, I think Alec needs to append “I-285” to the label for the framing ring road. Atlanta natives might know what “The Perimeter” is, but tourists and visitors almost certainly don’t! The tiny, spindly white label on a light grey background is also quite difficult to read.

Our rating: A great effort from Alec here – a very clean modernist look that works really well for the most part. Could perhaps be simplified a little further in parts.