Many thanks to Matt Johnson for telling me about this amazing photoset on Flickr that details the process involved in printing the new Rush+ station maps for Washington, DC’s Metro system. Click through to see the whole set! Even as an experienced graphic designer, I was amazed to see that the maps are screen printed — each colour on the map is printed one after the other, each using a separate screen with its own […]
Here’s an interesting map from Nürnberg (Nuremberg) in Germany that uses 30-degree angles instead of the usual 45. There doesn’t seem to be major thematic reason as to why things have been done this way: I suspect that it’s purely to make the routes fit into the allotted space. Have we been there? Yes, in 2003. What we like: Competently done, with a visually pleasing layout and good information hierarchy – the U-Bahn and tram […]
A detail of the Vignelli diagram. Source: pressthebigredbutton/Flickr
I came across this map while browsing Flickr last night, and was totally blown away by it. This map of St. Petersburg’s Metro system is simply gorgeous and is far, far better than the current official map. Definitely one of my favourite maps of the year so far. Have we been there? No. What we like: So many things! The lovely pattern used for the waterways, the stylish icons for points of interest, the inclusion […]
Having had a look at Madrid’s current map (2.5 stars), I thought we’d delve into the past and see what came before it. The first thing to notice is how much smaller the system was in 1981: only 10 Metro lines instead of 12 — and many of those are much shorter than now, and no light rail lines. Have we been there? No. What we like: A paragon of clean, functional transit map design. […]
If anything, I actually like this elongated layout better than the actual official system map (reviewed here) – the removal of the geography and the addition of zone information makes the design both cleaner and more useful. Great use of an awkward space. Source: LiamC1995/Flickr
It’s coming! WMATA’s Rush Plus map and service changes are almost here, and ads are appearing on Metro trains around D.C. Source: tracktwentynine/Flickr
Here’s a question I received from Tumblr user pw3n: “TransLink (in Vancouver) just released their first official Frequent Transit Network map. A lot could be said about the design (in particular, the apparent lack of craftsmanship), but that’s not what I want to ask you about. The first thing I noticed was a lack of route numbers. At first I was annoyed. But then I thought: do I care what bus is coming by, as […]
If the name of your station is in light grey, the trains from this platform are not going there. Simple but effective wayfinding signage from Rome’s Metro. Source: Matt Taylor Hobbs/Flickr
This is something you just have to look at: an amazing animated timeline of the Boston MBTA Subway over at Andrew Lynch’s Vanshnookenraggen blog (check out his future MBTA maps while you’re there). To my mind, this work is far superior to the animated history of the New York Subway map that was floating around the interwebs a little while back: it’s clearly dated on the map, it’s fully annotated, and even has a slide […]
