Transit Maps

While preparing today’s post about the current Medellin Metro map (2 stars), I kept looking at the map and asking myself if there were ways that I could improve upon it. Eventually, I had enough ideas to make a reworking worthwhile and set about the task.

I’ve chosen to show a “near-future” version of the system, with the “M” and “P” MetroCable lines completed, but without the Line 3 BRT, as I can’t find enough information on the names of proposed stations to include it properly. It’s worth noting that there is plenty of room to include it at a later date.

The typeface used is URW DIN, which echoes the use of DIN on the 2014 version of the map (the latest version uses an uncomfortable mixture of DIN and Myriad, which don’t really work that well together). All in all, this map represents about eight hours of work from initial concept to completion.

As always with a hypothetical redesign like this, I set myself some clear goals to achieve, these being:

• A stronger sense of hierarchy. All the route lines on the official map are the same thickness, which makes it a little tricky to differentiate between modes. I chose to make the Metro lines (the backbone of the system) thicker, with the tram and BRT lines slightly thinner. Finally, the MetroCable lines – which act as feeders to the rest of the system – are thinner still, which is also a nice visual representation of the thin cables that the gondolas run on. The Metro gets square line letter bullets, while the tram gets a reversed square to indicate its role as a sort of “Pre-Metro”. The other modes get discs, with letters for the MetroCable and numbers for BRT.
• All horizontal labels. Part of the messiness on the official map comes from the fact that some of its labels have to be angled to fit into the layout, which then shifts other stations out of place in order to accommodate them. Looking at maps of Medellin, I realised that the central part of the city is actually angled quite substantially away from a true north-south orientation. By using (and somewhat exaggerating) that angle throughout the map, I was able to arrange all the labels so that there were no clashes and no angled labels. It also gives the whole map a nice dynamic, I think. For those curious about the angles, the map is based on a 2:1 grid – for every two grid squares that Line A moves northwards, for example, it also moves one square eastwards. This equals a clockwise rotation of 26.565 degrees, which is a tiny bit less severe than a full 30 degrees, but gave me enough room to work with when staggering my labels.
• Better indication of pedestrian transfers. The official map indicates stations where a walk between modes is required by enclosing them in a white lozenge with a dotted black outline. Unfortunately, it’s visually very similar to the standard transfer symbol (a white lozenge with a solid black outline), and is especially confusing at Industriales station, where the ambiguity of the symbol doesn’t really indicate that the pedestrian transfer is a lengthy walk between the Metro station on the east side of the river and the bus station for Lines 1 and 2 on the west. I’ve used an easier-to-understand thin black line connector between the separate parts of these transfer stations: the one at Industriales is correspondingly longer to indicate that lengthy hike.
• Simplification. All the route lines are as straight as possible – no kinks in MetroCable and tram routes, and no random angles. Similarly, the station transfer symbols are presented in their simplest form. The central part of the map has been expanded for clarity and to allow ample room for labels (compare the label for Exposiciones station on both maps), while still adhering to a standard grid – the three north-south lines through the city centre are now evenly spaced, making for a more pleasing composition.
• A properly designed legend. The legend on the official map is crammed into some left over space at the bottom of the map – I wanted to take the time to craft a legend that fitted into a properly allocated space, which also means the map stands alone without having its breathing room taken up by extra information.

I also had a bit of fun with the river, using my favourite “Harry Beck Tube Map river stripes effect” and allowing it to break the map’s border at the top and the bottom (to show that it doesn’t just end at the map’s edge). I also indicate the approximate shape of the extensive Parque Arví to the top left of the map – the one and only destination of MetroCable Line “L”. This is probably the element I’m least happy with in the whole map – while it’s a nice piece of information to include, I also feel that it perhaps draws a little too much attention to itself. Maybe it’ll grow on me?

As always, thought, comments and critiques are welcome. This one was a lot of fun to do: I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to achieve and it all came together with a minimum of fuss in a short amount of time.