Massimo Vignelli and his 1972 NY Subway map

Massimo Vignelli explains his infamous 1972 New York Subway map and the controversy it caused. Then he realizes what he should have done instead...

Taken from the DVD extras of the film "Helvetica" by Gary Hustwit.
http://www.helveticafilm.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• hustwit
• graphic
• design
• typography
• helvetica
• fonts
• massimo
• vignelli
• modernism
• logos
• italy
• knoll
• subway
• new
• york

[benfortney]

While Vignelli's map may be beautiful and easy to read in form, the real world function is lacking. The idea that he should "Remove all geography" is absurd, people don't interact with a map in some abstract/design way, they use it to find a physical, geographical location.

With a system, and landmass as big as NYC not having some sort of geographical division on the map is suicide. "Meet me at the 50th Street stop." becomes a serious challenge without telling someone it's in Brooklyn.

[trainluvr]

No comments, hmm. The map is a masterpiece, though the trunk colors used today are sensible, but the bus transfer info bubbles are an abomination. If you compare the 1979 map to today's you can see a lot of progress, but it is quite busy as Massimo states.

[marty177]

The Sydney rail map has got basic direction. The western suburbs are on the left side of the map, the northern suburbs are at the top and so forth. The layout is the general layout of the city. I think that is enough for people.

Does the Vignelli NYC map have at least that amount of geography?

[AEMoreira81]

That map has returned...the MTA, as of today is using it now to explain planned service disruptions.

[Motochine]

Harry Beck was faced with the same query by the bigwigs at London Transport.

"All very nice Beck, but why have you completely neglected geography?"

"You're Underground; what do you need geography for?"

[saginawdavis]

@benfortney Exactly.  Berlin's map is one of the most frightening things I've seen for two reasons:

1. No geography whatsoever.

2. You can only tell the name of a line by tracing it out to its terminal point. There's no legend for color codes,.

[lucasdimitri]

@Gondring We'll be happy to get the page you are talking about ;)

[Gondring]

The New York Times website has a page allowing you to compare the 2010 map to the four previous maps (1968, 1972,1979, 1998). It's called "An Overhaul of an Underground Icon" (May 27, 2010), and their search box finds it.

The 2010 map is so much better than the 1972 map. The 1972 map was not only misleading (by misrepresenting distances, in both absolute and relative terms), but utterly useless for things like trying to determine which station is nearest a destination!

[hoeveler]

The new map is no comparison to the old 1972 map. Why did they have to change it? There is nothing difficult to read and comprehend on Vignelli's map, while nearly everything about the new map is difficult to understand, with its spaghetti-tendrils sprawled all over the city. A subway map is not a street map, and the two do not need to be combined. Tokyo, London, and most other major cities all "get it", why not New York City?