Underground Maps Unravelled

Whether you are a graphic designer, transport professional, or just a frustrated commuter, maps will never seem quite the same again. Underground Maps Unravelled looks at information design on public transport in cities around the world. This book is the result of over ten years of investigation by a psychologist, exploring the fundamentals of usability. Too many schematic maps are not fit for purpose, commissioned by managers or created by designers who blindly follow tradition, lacking the ability or inclination to test the work in objective usability studies, and who do not understand how people identify and interpret information in order to make sense of their surroundings. Either such maps are poorly optimised, or else inappropriate design rules have been chosen, incompatible with the structure of the networks that are being mapped. This books gives an in-depth analysis of how schematic maps assist the user, when they fail, and the psychological theories that explain why. It asks whether traditional design techniques are suited to today's complex networks, and explores what happens when the rules are broken. The result is an astonishing collection of maps for cities worldwide that challenge preconceptions about the nature of effective design.