“Since 1997 or so it has been The Map-the Hertz-style map with lots of pop-up boxes to indicate connections to other forms of transportation such as trains, buses and ferries. Designed by Michael Hertz, the map evolved from subway-only to include inter-modal transportation like buses and ferries. In 1979, Vignelli’s linear map was replaced with a more traditional-style topographical map. They are much closer than the map indicates, so close in fact that in 2009 they became one station.” The pair of stations that bothered me back in 1977 and still do with Vignelli’s 2008 revision of the map are South Ferry and Whitehall Street. It is that the locations of some stations are geographically incorrect and that of others misleading in relation to their physical presence. “The problem is not that Central Park is a square rather than a rectangle. He points out a scene from The Warriors in which a gang trying to get from The Bronx to Coney Island on the subway look at Vignelli’s map and find themselves totally confused. I know this from my first years in New York and I have heard similar comments from others who remember trying to use the map when it was introduced,” says Shaw. But the Vignelli map is terrible if you actually want to use the subway. ![]() “Most designers-if blogs are to be believed-prefer the Vignelli map. We spoke with Paul Shaw, author of Helvetica and the New York Subway System, back in February on the topic. But what if, for whatever reason, you wanted to get out at 59th Street and take a walk on a crisp fall evening? Imagine your surprise when you found yourself hiking for hours on a route that looked like it would take minutes on Vignelli's map. What about, for instance, the fact that the Vignelli map represented Central Park as a square, when in fact it is three times as long as it is wide? If you're underground, of course, it doesn't matter: there simply aren't as many stops along Central Park as there are in midtown, so it requires less map space. To make the map work graphically meant that a few geographic liberties had to be taken. ![]() The result was a design solution of extraordinary beauty. In 2008, an updated version was commissioned by Men’s Vogue magazine to raise funds for charity.Ī striking piece of graphic design history, the map also had its shortcomings. Today, the Vignelli map has a near-cult following-with vintage maps selling for upwards of $200 on eBay, a place in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, even a designer dress. The whole map is designed on a 45/90 degrees grid with geographic distortions to accommodate the lines,” recalls Vignelli in From A to Z. Inspired by London’s Underground map designed by Harry Beck in 1933-which, in turn, was inspired by electrical circuit diagrams-Vignelli simplified New York’s complex subway system into a clean graphical system. “A different color for each line, a dot for every station. Vignelli’s now-classic New York City subway map was first introduced in 1972, following his work on the signage system in the late 1960s. It’s been over 30 years since the Italian designer’s New York subway map was axed, but it’s still a passionate issue. ![]() Don’t cheat me,” says a heated Massimo Vignelli during an AIGA/NY event earlier this year.
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