On Wednesday, September 18, 2013, a panel of speakers presented AIGA/NY New Walk City: Just Like We Pictured It / How PentaCityGroup Designed NYC’s Street Maps, at the Bumble and bumble auditorium.

Rachel Abrams, AIGA/NY board member and special advisor to PentaCityGroup, introduced the speakers: Wendy Bell of T-Kartor, David Gillam of City ID, and Hamish Smyth of Pentagram. She explained the PentaCityGroup team (whose name derives from combining “Pentagram” and “CITY ID”) also includes the cartography group T-Kartor, the industrial design firm Billings Jackson Design, and the engineering firm RBA Group. PentaCityGroup was formed to answer the New York City Department of Transportation’s (DOT) request for a new mapping system for NYC visitors, businesses, and visitors.

Strategy

David Gillam began the evening by describing the strategic analysis that began the mapping process. The team needed to build a simple, predictable, and relevant map system for visitors and locals alike.

The team field-tested different scales and orientations. They discovered that participants preferred a “heads-up” orientation, in which a map mirrors the pedestrian’s viewpoint (rather than facing north). The team also decided which landmark buildings to include, emphasizing not just well-known tourist spots, but tall, easily visible structures that are useful for navigating.

Lastly, Gillam explained the team’s approach to using the new maps to help users seamlessly connect the city’s many different transportation modes. As the team moved into the design phase, Gillam said, “what we tried to do is draw the best from each of these modes of transport. We then were able to start to stitch together the city, creating benefits for each of them.”

Design

Hamish Smyth spoke next with an overview of the graphic design process.

The design team, led by Michael Bierut, began the process by asking themselves, “is there a look for New York?” They based the new map’s overall look on Massimo Vignelli’s Modernist subways graphics: white type on dark backgrounds. For their typeface, the team modified Helvetica, replacing the square over the lowercase “i” with a circle. They named the new typeface “Helvetica DOT,” which, Smyth admitted, “was a gift.” They also adjusted the numeral “1″ to resemble the “1″ of Standard Medium, the typeface used in Vignelli’s original subway signage.

For a color palette, the team added yellow (taken from NYC taxis) and green (from the new painted bike lanes) to their basic palette of grays and white. Icons for restrooms, taxi stands, and similar locations were loosely based on the AIGA icons from the 1970’s. The team experimented with a few styles for the landmark buildings before settling on elevations drawn in 1-pixel wide white lines. “I’m just gonna nerd out of these for a second,” said Smyth, as he concluded with a slideshow of some of his favorite renderings.

Database

“Our system is database-driven,” Wendy Bell explained.

Instead of creating just one map, T-Kartor built a living database that generated multiple maps. Beginning with base map data sourced from the DOT and other city agencies, T-Kartor’s software simplified the GIS data into new vector images with simpler geometry. Final styling was completed manually according to the detailed specs provided by the Pentagram design team.

Implementation + Future

Before the final rollout, PentaCityGroup brought foam-board versions of the maps out onto the city streets for user testing. They were delighted to see overwhelmingly positive user reactions. “What we sensed on the street was that they felt familiar — they felt something that had always been there,” said David Gillam.

The permanent kiosk structures were designed to resemble city waterfront buildings: tall, upward-reaching, sleek, with hidden joints. These kiosks maps have now been deployed at CitiBike stations and as pedestrian signage at a few Manhattan neighborhoods, and they’ll be spreading fast. And what’s next? PentaCityGroup and the DOT are working to apply the same system to bus services and MTA neighborhood maps, as well as translating the system into print documents and digital media.

The evening ended with a wonderful surprise: Pentagram gifted the audience with posters displaying the landmark icons drawn for the PentaCityGroup mapping project. Every audience member took home home a poster, and five lucky winners received posters signed by Michael Bierut. What a treat!

Additional Information:
PentaCityGroup
City ID
Pentagram
T-Kartor
NYC DOT: WalkNYC
New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual

Event Details:
AIGA/NY New Walk City: Just Like We Pictured It / How PentaCityGroup designed NYC’s Street Maps

Event Photos:

Click here to view all photos from AIGA/NY New Walk City: Just Like We Pictured It / How PentaCityGroup Designed NYC’s Street Maps on Flickr.
 To view additional photos, or to contribute your photos, visit our AIGA New York Flickr group.

Special thanks to contributing writer Karen Vanderbilt for the AIGA/NY New Walk City: Just Like We Pictured It / How PentaCityGroup Designed NYC’s Street Maps event recap and photos. Karen can be found at karenvanderbilt.com and Studio Kudos.