Submitted by Sergey, who also drew my attention to the recently-revised schematic for the entire Moscow Metro as well. However, this new strip map for the Central Circle Line really caught my eye, as it’s a fascinating approach to solving a very difficult problem: how do you concisely show a loop line (with a lot of stations!) in the narrow confines of a railcar strip map?

ArtLebedev’s solution is to view the circular line from an oblique perspective: with the circle compressed vertically into a shallow oval. As seen in the second image above, the labels and other design elements are all also viewed from the same viewpoint, creating an effective illusion of depth and space, augmented by the visually clever little “flip” of the circle as it moves from the front edge to the back. Elegantly, Moscow’s centre is simply indicated by a small red star in the middle of the ellipse.

The glowing red drop shadow that defines the edges of the white route line seems a little ostentatious – and might perhaps make the map age badly when this type of effect isn’t so much in vogue in a few years – but it does work well to differentiate this line from other Metro lines on the full system map.

Our rating: A stylish, visually attractive way of depicting a circular route in a limited space. Creates an almost three-dimensional space instead of a flat planar map. Great work as always from this studio – four stars!

Source: ArtLebedev website – as always, a great walkthrough of the design process, and a look at newly redesigned strip maps for other Metro lines as well.