Subway maps are designed to help passengers navigate the system. As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York recently released a new design for its subway map, what are your thoughts on the new subway map for New York?
New Subway Map For New York: What are Your Thoughts?
The subway map that had been in use since 1979 is what is known as the map that is based on geography by Michael Hertz and Nobu Siraisi from 1979; so it had been in service with minor changes over the past almost 46 years.
The new map that was unveiled earlier this year is known as the subway diagram and is shown below…
…but the new diagram is not actually new, as much of the design is based on the design of the 1972 version of the subway map, which was designed by Massimo Vignelli.
For additional information on the evolution of the subway map for the city of New York, this article that was written by Roger van den Bergh for Print magazine offers a nice retrospective — as well as historical photographs of older subway maps.
Final Boarding Call
Although the late Massimo Vignelli was a respected designer, I tend to prefer the geographic version of the subway map for the city of New York, as it is somewhat more accurate overall — but I do not dislike the diagram version of the map, as it is “cleaner” and has its own strengths.
What are your thoughts?
Photograph ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
