of men’s vogue. 500 signed prints were made available through the men's vogue website with all
sold out, unsigned maps were also available for free within may issues of men's vogue at select retailers
across the states. designboom recently caught up with men’s vogue editor mark rozzo to ask him about
the collaboration with vignelli.


new york city subway diagram, 2008 by vignelli associates, 2008 (courtesy of vignelli associates/men's vogue)

as a fan of the old vignelli map, I thought the project would be a great asset to our may design issue:
a chance not only to cover design as a subject but to be actually involved in creating great design with an
acknowledged master. and so, in a way, the project was also intended as a salute to massimo himself at
a time when so many people are again paying attention to the scope and enduring vitality of the work
of vignelli associates.


new york city subway diagram, 2008 by vignelli associates, 2008 (courtesy of vignelli associates/men's vogue)

what does this project hope to achieve? was to create a high-quality art print and make it available as a limited edition. we also felt that, rather trying
to turn it into money-making exercise, the real spirit of the venture was about new york and its history and
its relationship with design. so it wasn’t much of a stretch to figure out that the proceeds should go to a
worthy design-oriented nonprofit. the may issue also features a piece about omar freilla and his green
workers cooperatives project in the south bronx (a sustainable-building/recycling initiative that was awarded
a jane jacobs medal for 2007); it was only natural that the proceeds should go to this worthy effort that is
all about encouraging sustainable design in new york.


new york city subway diagram, 2008 by vignelli associates, 2008 (courtesy of vignelli associates/men's vogue)

see how all of the changes that have altered the subway system over the past 30 years would be reflected
in a new vignelli map. massimo acknowledged the original critique of the map - that the geography of
new york was abstracted to such a degree that some riders were confused. I got the impression that he
might answer that criticism by turning central park from a square into a rectangle, making the water blue etc.
but in the end, and very wisely, too, I think, massimo went the opposite direction. instead he actually
abstracted the geography even further with the new map, realizing that the problem with the 1972 version
was that some people thought they were getting a map of the city instead of a diagram of the subway system.
the update is much clearer since the color scheme of the subways has been simplified over the years,
the color scheme of the vignelli map has shed its former 'neon rainbow' vibe: the colors are fewer and
bolder (actually, massimo told me he kind of misses all the crazy colors of the old one!). the other big
difference, I think, is the orientation of broadway, which is now strongly implied by a 45-degree angle
and provides a focus for the whole design.


new york city subway diagram, 2008 by vignelli associates, 2008 (courtesy of vignelli associates/men's vogue)

- a highly collectible one, too. there’s an appreciation of the old map that goes beyond aesthetics;
it’s rich nostalgia for people who either lived or visited new york in the 1970s (a very heady time for
the city, of course) or who (like me) moved here long afterwards and always wondered about what
it would have been like to live here at that time. it’s a way of connecting with those feelings and to
own an amazing piece of original design at what is really quite a reasonable price and to share in
this very fun moment of the map’s re-creation. who knows… maybe we’ll do a second printing…


new york city subway diagram, 2008 by vignelli associates, 2008 (courtesy of vignelli associates/men's vogue)

beatriz cifuentes and yoshi waterhouse, they presented us with fold-out mockups of the map
and we were sold on it right away. not only because it meant that everyone who picked up the
magazine could immediately have their own tear-out vignelli map (even if it’s just a detail of manhattan,
which was the most we could do with a centerfold), but that this kind of presentation was a way of
bringing a surprising design element to our design issue.

vignelli's map, the current MTA design and more recently the kick map have all received
mixed receptions. do you have any preference?
time and again – that different people process visual information in different ways. I might feel that
the official subway map of NYC ('the map') is convoluted, overloaded with information, and perhaps
the most inelegant subway map in the entire world, but I use it every day and don’t tend to get lost.

much a map as it is a diagram of the subway system and that there is a place for his vision alongside
a conventional map that would show the city’s geography.

have never been matched in new york’s history. I also feel it’s highly functional, as it presents information
in a crystal-clear, systematized, distilled way.

can we expect any similar projects / collaborations with (graphic) designers in the future?
we’re always looking for new ideas and projects. we do a limited edition page in each issue,
and they’re often collaborations with designers and craftspeople that we brainstorm with.
for instance, our previous map project was with redstone studios, a small enterprise that practices
painstaking, hand-drawn cartography. we approached them about doing their first-ever globe,
which they did – a beautiful specimen. one of the redstone globes was acquired by the new york
public library for their maps collection. it would be great if they got a vignelli map too!

read more about massimo vignelli's updated NYC subway map for men's vogue here

http://www.mensvogue.com
http://www.vignelli.com
http://greenworker.coop
designboom interview: massimo vignelli (2006)