The Beijing Subway is not usually considered one of the world’s most attractive transportation systems. Moscow’s is elaborate, Paris’s a gallery of styles, Beijing’s is, uhhh. But now, thanks to a Paris-based architect and cartographer, at least there’s a beautiful representation of it.
“I started drawing schematic metro network maps for pocket sized prints, trying to reach a compromise between legibility, usefulness and beauty of design,” Jug Cerovic writes on his website.
Cerovic created INAT, what he views as a cartographic standard to make reading, using, and memorizing transporation maps easier. “The maps are design [sic] so as to be legible on small sized prints for pocket use and suitable for display on a wide array of supports.” The easy curved lines are elegant but also minimized: the maps are not intended to mirror the actual geographic route of the subway line, but to fit for printing and to remind the user of stop order. For example, lines such as 4 and Y don’t curve into a U, but are drawn that way on Cerovic’s map to make the graphic more compact.
Between this map, the pleasant weather, and knowing that the clock is ticking on fixed-price, RMB 2 fares, there’s no better time to go for a ride on the subway.
Photo: Jug Cerovic