The main arguments against Massimo Vignelli’s masterful 1972 diagrammatic map of the New York Subway are that New York never had a diagram before and hated it, and that it distorted the geography too much (the usual example given is the compression of Central Park into a square instead of its actual rectangle).

However, this map – the immediate predecessor to the Vignelli map and used in various forms from around 1958 to 1972 – does exactly the same things, just with less style and grace. The representation of the three subway company’s lines in red (IND), green (BMT) and black (IRT) are clearly simplified and diagrammatic, and distortion of the geography is apparent everywhere, especially in (a square) Central Park and Flushing Meadow Park, which takes on almost ridiculous proportions. So why has this map never gained the same notoriety as the Vignelli map? Probably because it wasn’t designed by some fancy-pants big-shot graphic designer, that’s why.

Have we been there? Yes, and I navigated the subway like a local, even giving directions to other riders.

What we like: The blue chalk outlines of the shoreline are charming and very well executed (this is well before the day of Adobe Illustrator brushes!). Transfer, route names and rush hour services are all illustrated well, as is the important distinction between local and express trains. Tourist points of interest are called out in their own legend and the numbered yellow circles are easy to find (although, strangely, the Statue of Liberty seems to be located 200 yards south of Battery Park). 

What we don’t like: It may be the age of the poster, but the green and black route lines are very tonally similar and can be confused for each other. Type is very small.

Our rating: An excellent early example of an American diagrammatic map, and one that clearly shows that New York had had plenty of exposure to the genre before the Vignelli map. This map only looks poor in comparison to the brilliance of that later piece. Four stars.

Source: nycsubway.org website