The goal was to create a subway map that is beautiful to look at, easy to use and custom designed for New York City. New York City subway map designed by Tommi Moilanen

So good looking you want to hang it on the wall and so easy to use it becomes your subway map of choice It is still hard to get an overall understanding of the express sections since every line is drawn with an equal weight. The diagrammatic map designed by Vignelli, that is currently used in its updated incarnation in the Weekender app, does a better job than the official map in this regard by showing every train as a separate line. This can be especially confusing for tourists. Lines running local, then express and then local again is a special feature of the New York City subway that no map does a good job showing properly. The Weekender map (Vignelli) on the left and the official map (Tauranac) on the right On one hand this brings clarity especially to Manhattan which would otherwise be full of crisscrossing lines but on the other hand it makes it harder to quickly comprehend which lines run express and which local.

The current map also combines trains running along the same trunk route to one single line and specifies which trains stop at each stations below the station names. Interestingly the first version of the map showed more street names than the current version does. The map shows quite a few street names but not really enough to function as a proper street map. This feeling is amplified by the fact that a big portion of the station names are not aligned horizontally. The free flowing lines also add messiness to the overall feeling of the map. The current map designed by a committee lead by John Tauranac in 1978 is a lot more geographically accurate but looks quite different from the rest of the subway signage. The 1972 map designed by Massimo Vignelli is considered a design classic and can be found in the collections of MoMA even though it was replaced over 30 years ago by being too abstract for the citizens of New York City. However, the map is a different story altogether. Originally the signs were black text on a white background instead of the current reverse scheme of white on black but not much else has changed since then. After decades it still does its job remarkably well. Black and white signs with Helvetica showing just the information subway riders need at the points they need it and nothing more. The New York City subway signage is considered iconic.

Nyc subway map