The New York City Subway map redesigned by Tommi Moilanen

[N6 Limited]

I just came across this. I didn't see other posts about it.

 

https://medium.com/@tviit/the-new-york-city-subway-map-redesigned-9a3f776c7627#.tbrbw6w77 

 

For whatever reason the entire map in the article is low res. He differentiates between express and local service by having the express service indicated by a thicker line, etc.

 

[itmaybeokay]

I mean, it's kinda cool - but isn't it just a slightly crappier redux of the vignelli map?

 

Personally I think it needs a little bit more of the streets and geography for SOME kind of context. The subway map is there to show people where to go. The surface destinations are also important, you know? 

[N6 Limited]

I agree. Manhattan maybe not so much since most stops are major streets.

[bobtehpanda]

The entire map is low res so that no one can screenshot the work, stitch it together, and claim it's theirs.

[Caelestor]

I still maintain that each trunk line should only show two routes, express and local, at most, like in this diagram here: http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/subway/SubDia.pdf.

[Kamen Rider]

The map is perfectly fine so long as you can, you know, read. Every stop lists what routes stop there. Why does it need to be more complicated?

 

If you're heading to 23rd on the Lex and you're at Union Square, even if you had not checked the maps, you are told what the next stop is. If you still get in a 4 or 5, that's your own fault for not listening.

 

No one complains about the mapping errors on other systems. Never seen anyone try to decide up the London District Line. The Edgewere Road branch only goes to Wimboldon. It won't take you to Richmond or Ealing Broadway, but the don't bother to make that obvious.

 

Meanwhile, the subway map make in rather clear the 6 doesn't go to Brooklyn.

 

 

What's next, people going to demand that map include the station layouts so no one gets lost?

[Lance]

Yeah, I can't say I really like this map. While it does hark back to the Vignelli maps of the '70s, which I do like very much, I can't really feel this one. Perhaps it's all the dead space. The lack of any real color besides the subway lines and the starkly-colored Central Park combined with the odd 30/60/90 angles make it a very unappealing map to look at in terms of visuals. There needs to be something to break up all the beige. Say what you will about the Vignelli maps, at least they weren't just one blob of a single color, even if the entire color palette for those maps did seem to lean on the dead side of things as well.

 

As for the ever-present argument that diagrammatic maps work better, they do so primary in European cities like London because their cities weren't built in a grid pattern. Vignelli himself knew this, which is why his original proposal included a geographic map along with the diagram. The city couldn't afford both so they went with the diagram and the rest is history.

 

What's next, people going to demand that map include the station layouts so no one gets lost?

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in saying I wouldn't mind such a map, especially in the larger complex stations like Times Square.

[Tokkemon]

Blech.

[Sparen of Iria]

Maps for station layouts are quite common in some countries - especially Japan, where you might have six different subway platforms on different levels at the same station.

 

As for this map, I really don't feel it. Besides the dead space and the sharp angles, I also don't like the way he treated express vs local - I'd actually prefer local to be thicker than express.

[nycmetro]

Full high resolution map is available here if you haven't seen it already.