Two closing chapters of the part Principle of Ilya Birman’s Designing Transit Maps are out. The chapters are ‘Granularity’ and ‘Freedom’.
The book speaks of transit map history, important principles of their design, and how they evolve together with their networks. The author talks about techniques: plotting the lines, denoting the stops, choosing the fonts, and composing the final poster.
Not many designers have an occasion to design a subway map. But the principles and techniques discussed are applicable to any tasks of complex information display: org charts, family trees, control‑flow diagrams, fire escape plans, project timelines, military battle schemes, architectural drawings. The book sharpens the reader’s eye and inculcates attention to detail.
Granularity
In addition to the routes themselves, it is useful to show landmarks, streets, parks, and ponds on a transit map, just like on a regular map. This helps you link the transport to your possible destinations. The map may also contain utility layers, such as a coordinate grid and fare zones. However, the more details there are on a map, the harder it is to read it, so the less important details are usually removed. Even station names may be missing from a subway map for a smart watch. In this chapter, the author explores the options to increase or decrease a map’s granularity level and ways to simplify the design.
Freedom
Having a principle is important for good design. Without it, the design looks random. But a principle is not an end in itself, it is just a tool for making decisions. A principle can tie designers’ hands. We should not fear freedom. It’s normal to make an exception to any principle or to combine different principles on the same map if the map would benefit from it. In this chapter, read about useful exceptions and clever combinations of different principles in transit map design.
Interactive test
After the chapters, there is an interactive test on the whole second part, The principle.
Sample chapter
The chapter ‘Bends’ is available for free. In the chapter Ilya Birman shows good and bad ways to bend the lines, introduces the bend visibility principle, talks about harmonizing the bends in line bundles.
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