The first three chapters of Ilya Birman’s Designing Transit Maps are out

Few 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, military operation plans, project timelines, architectural drawings. The book sharpens the reader’s eye and inculcates attention to detail.

Over the past centuries, human geographic knowledge has reached a great degree of accuracy. But maps don’t just show reality as it is, rather they help humans in their tasks. A picture of Earth taken from space is accurate and very beautiful, but of little use for travel. Mercator’s map depicts Greenland the size of Africa (it should be fifteen times smaller), but it is indispensable for navigation.

With the rise of commercial transportation, the task of helping passengers get from point A to point B became particularly important. Maps of transport networks became one of the ways to advertise them. The oldest subway in the world, London Underground, switched from a traditional map to a diagram in 1933. The diagram was created by draftsman Henry Beck back then, and London Underground map still inherits Beck’s design.

Beck’s work has had a huge impact on wayfinding design. When we hear “subway map”, we imagine something similar to Beck’s diagram. But Beck did not solve the problem of a graphic representation of the transportation system once and for all. If you don’t consider the specifics of a city and its transportation system, the map will turn out to be mediocre.

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.

Preorder is available as before and you can start reading the book right now. If you choose to subscribe to the book before it’s fully published, you will get 2 extra months free. Your official subscription time hasn’t started ticking yet⁠—we’ll start your subscription clock later. The book is being published in parts, and the readers still have their paid year plus 2 months as a gift.