Montreal’s STM is updating their signage (more info), with a focus on wayfinding and legibility. They’re shifting the typography from Univers 57 to Transit, as well as implementing a custom monospace and pictogram fonts.
Tag: metro
Montreal metro map poster. These are the ones that displayed in the metro cars, they’re quite large. I picked one up last weekend at a local street fair — now I need to figure out how to hang it on the wall.
NYC subway map from 1964
A version of the NYC subway map, which had been lost to history, was recently found and recreated digitally by Reka Komoli.
A local lawyer, R. Raleigh D’Adamo, was the winner of that 1964 contest. His design separated local from express routes and assigned separate colors to each of them. Submissions had to fit all the subway lines into a geographically correct map. So to use as little space as possible, D’Adamo employed colored squares along shared lines.
Personally, I would’ve found the map tough to use as a tourist, none of the station names are indicated. It was replaced by Massimo Vignelli’s version three years later.
Beck and Paris
Ken Garland’s lectures at Reading were some of my favourites during the time I spent there, particularly his passion for Harry Beck and the London Underground. I don’t really remember him mentioning Beck’s connection to the Paris Metro, probably because there was only limited class time.