If you ever wanted your own copy of the latest iteration of this design classic, here’s your chance. The newly-formed design firm of Waterhouse Cifuentes (founded by Massimo Vignelli’s collaborators Yoshiki Waterhouse and Beatriz Cifuentes) is now offering superb prints on their SuperWarmRed Designs website.
As the description on the website says:
This poster of the MTA New York City Subway Diagram was designed in 2012 by Vignelli Associates and is used in the MTA’s Weekender website and app. Using concepts from Massimo Vignelli’s iconic Subway Map design of 1972, the new diagram was informed by satellite data and rebuilt for greater clarity and legibility. Revised to reflect the current subway system, colors and nomenclature, the poster has been printed in vivid Pantone and Hexachrome inks on acid-free archival cover-weight paper. While supplies last. (36″ x 45″ unframed)
These stunning posters are priced as you might expect a highly collectible, limited edition print of a design classic to be: standard posters are $300, while a poster signed by Massimo Vignelli, Waterhouse and Cifuentes will set you back $1,200. Sadly, out of my price range unless all my readers want to chip in a few dollars each and buy me a nice Christmas present (a man can dream, right?)
One thing’s for sure: the print quality is absolutely impeccable. PANTONE inks plus Hexachrome inks! As a tweet from the firm to me says, this was a very deliberate decision, designed to escape the very limited colour gamut of traditional CMYK printing. It’s a decision that has paid off, as the colours look super vibrant and crisp in the preview images.