New Yawk

Rico says he likes the Massimo Vignelli map (left) of the New York City subway system the best, but he likes the new map (bottom) better than the current one (right). Michael Grynbaum has the story in The New York Times:

In a city of world-class art museums and an instantly recognizable skyline, no image is more closely examined than the New York City subway map, the ubiquitous blue-and-taupe rectangle scrutinized by millions. Now the subterranean icon is poised to get a spruce-up.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will unveil a resized, recolored and simplified edition of the well-known map, its first overhaul in more than a decade.
Manhattan will become taller, bulkier, and thirty percent wider, to better display its spaghetti of subway lines. Staten Island, meanwhile, will shrink by half. The spreadsheet-like “service guide”, along the map’s bottom border, will be eliminated, and the other three boroughs will grow to fill the space.
A separate, stripped-down map will also be produced, to be displayed only inside subway cars. Neighborhood names, parks, ferries and bus connections will not appear on this version, making for a less cluttered composition that may be easier to read over a fellow rider’s shoulders.
The authority says its goal is improved clarity, but the redesigned map also marks the latest salvo in a long debate over how to best represent a complex system that can bedevil tourists and natives alike.
The subway map has become ubiquitous, adorning products like shower curtains, Converse high-top sneakers, and Ray-Ban sunglasses, not to mention every platform and train in the city.
But some amateur cartographers have maintained that the official map conveys too much information, or not enough. Many are now proffering their own designs on the Internet or as smartphone applications.
“The M.T.A. map is an artifact of its time, and its time was 1979,” said Eddie Jabbour, designer of the Kick Map, a competing schematic that he said had been downloaded by 250,000 users.
Indeed, the current map, and its imminent successor, are direct descendants of a 1979 version, introduced when the authority did away with Massimo Vignelli’s abstract design because its right-angled routes and nondescript background left riders puzzled. Central Park, for instance, now a green rectangle, appeared as a grayish square.
At the time, the authority wanted geographical accuracy, so that passengers would not be confused upon ascending back to the street. Hence, subway lines that wiggle and curve, reflecting the exact route of the train, and a simple street grid that highlights popular attractions and neighborhoods.
Over time, however, the map acquired new elements, like ferry routes and obtrusive balloons showing bus connections. The authority now concedes that the map became overcrowded.
“In its desire to be complete and provide a great deal of information, it took away from some of the clarity you would have with a simpler map,” said Jay H. Walder, the authority’s chairman, who encouraged his marketing staff to make changes.
For the latest iteration, Mr. Walder decided that the service guide, which purports to show a weekend schedule, was theoretical at best. The guide was removed, along with a growing list of handicapped-accessible stations that had begun to dominate the bottom right corner. Small wheelchair symbols will continue to denote those stops.
To improve contrast, the taupe background took a lighter tone, and subway lines gained a gray border. The bus balloons stayed, but they have been made smaller, making room for geographical features like Rikers Island, which will now appear in its entirety. The maps that will be inside subway cars eliminate the balloons.
A few of the map’s more quizzical features will remain intact: Charlton Street, for instance, a sleepy industrial lane in Hudson Square, is one of the few Manhattan streets that merit a mention. NoHo is still clearly labeled, putting it on the level of more common neighborhood names like TriBeCa, while Hell’s Kitchen and Yorkville are nowhere to be found. Fort Greene Park, however, has been restored.
The map also encourages riders to click around the authority’s website for updated service changes, particularly on the weekends.
Smaller tweaks will reflect the reductions in subway service that take effect at the end of June. The M train, brown for three decades, will become orange, reflecting its rerouting along Avenue of the Americas. The V and W trains will disappear.
The authority has ordered 1.5 million copies for distribution in June, with 6 million copies a year expected to be printed.
Mr. Jabbour, the Kick Map designer, said that while the official map had “humanity,” it was too complex. “You have to read the map rather than scan the map,” he said.
But Michael Hertz, whose eponymous firm has designed the map since 1979, said he remained satisfied with his work. “It continues to be the right balance between information and graphic clarity,” he said. “We have given the public a good tool to get around the city.”