affinity designer Nottingham - Tram Network Transit Map

[transitdiagrams]

Hey :-)

I do transit maps (diagrams) for fun in my spare time to relax.

Here is one of my recent works: the Nottingham Tram Network in my own interpretation (unofficial of course).

The whole map is entirely done with Affinity Designer. 

If you have any thoughts on it or feedack this is much appreciated.

Have a great day!
Chris

[Dazmondo77]

NICE

[GarryP]

That’s a transit map which makes me feel calm, which is a good thing in my opinion.
Good clear text with a nice choice of colours.
I also like the use of space. You could have made it more compact but I think the space gives the map ‘room to breathe’ and lets the viewer see things more clearly.
I would have been tempted to add a legend to show the exact meanings of the pictograms but that’s just me. (It’s fairly clear what’s going on but some people...)
Also, I would have been tempted to somehow merge the two lines where they join, also making the stations where they’re merged single rather than double, but I don’t know if that would make it better or worse. One of those things where you don’t know unless you can see both versions I suppose. I think I would favour what you have done keeping the lines separate.
All-in-all, despite my minor concerns, a lovely map.
P.S. I’ve bookmarked your instagram page for a better look later on.

[transitdiagrams]

Hey @GarryP! 

Thank you so much! and also appreciate your feedback! 

I thought this one is self-explanatory but you are definitely right - people! Don't want to add more than needed... The icons itself could be more differentiated, though. 

My intention was to show every service (line) for its self. I know that connected station symbols are common but still I wanted to use Massimo Vignelli's idea of showing every stop with a dot (he designed the famous 1970s NYC Subway map). I don't do it in all my maps - so you can see other concepts.  

Would love if you have a look at my Instagram! And I am always happy to answer any question about my maps. 

Chris

[ivanozzo]

Very nice!!!

[GarryP]

You’re welcome Chris.

After a bit more thought I decided that having a standard legend might spoil the design so I tried to come up with some other ideas:

1. Make the pictograms larger or a different colour. Didn’t like that idea. Larger pictograms would look wrong and using a different colour would make them look like an afterthought.

2. Show the legend text next to selected stops (attached as sample1). Don’t think that works well. The viewer has to spot the text and work out that the text isn’t only related to the places where it is.

3. Add extra descriptive text (attached as sample2). Not too sure about this one. It does the job but will anyone notice it?

4. Combine descriptive text with another graphical device (attached as sample3). Text is better placed and the extra graphics give the viewer an idea that there’s something else that’s happening at these stops. Don’t know if the extra graphics divert the eye though. Not sure.

Anyway, these are all quick ideas that have been crudely implemented in my samples. Just thought I’d give them a try for myself and see if anything better came to mind while I was trying them.

[transitdiagrams]

hey @GarryP!

nice and interesting ideas you have. the last one seems to be the best one.

my solution would be to use either other symbols which are not that similar to each other or use letters (B for bus, R for rail) in solid circles.

what do think of my proposals?

[GarryP]

The biggest problem I would have with using letters instead of symbols is that their meaning is obscured from people who don’t read the language the map is written in. Most people who look at transit maps are people who don’t know the area and, depending on the area, a lot of them may be from a different country and might not read/speak the local language. If I don’t know what trains or buses are called in the local language then the letters by themselves are of little use. (Place names are usually okay as I can just match the characters against what I have written down regardless of what language they’re in, up to a point.)
I think the bus symbol you’ve used is fine but the train symbol is a little ‘stylistic’ of a certain type of train which not everyone will have seen. To differentiate them more it might be an idea to have one in front-projection and the other in side-projection. This collection has a few examples of both https://thenounproject.com/Graphic_Tigers/collection/transport-line-icons/ but I couldn’t say if any of them would be right for this particular map.
I definitely don’t think you should use a steam train symbol as that’s a bit outdated and wouldn’t match your clean and modern design.
I had the idea of using some rails as the symbol for the train but I think that would be confusing as the trams use rails too. There’s always the option – because it’s a map of a British place – of using the British Rail double-arrow symbol but that only really works in red (without a background) and I don’t know if that would look right on your map. You could use the white-on-red-background version but, as with the letters, it’s only recognisable if you already know what it is.
This is a tricky one to get right. Maybe someone else has better ideas than me.

[transitdiagrams]

Thank you for your detailed explanation! you are right about letters as icons. I think the best would be to change the icons =) thanks for your input!

I will post an updated version soon! :-)

[GarryP]

You're welcome. I'm glad to be of some assistance.

I look forward to seeing an updated version.

P.S. Do I need to be an Instagram member to view your images there properly? I tried to have a look but I can only see the small pop-up versions.

[transitdiagrams]

18 minutes ago, GarryP said:

P.S. Do I need to be an Instagram member to view your images there properly? I tried to have a look but I can only see the small pop-up versions. 

That's all Instagram is capable of. I know it's not the best way to show my maps but I don't want to run a website at the moment. On Twitter it's better - they let you see more details. And some of my maps are also on my Behance portfolio - this is the best way to see (for now). :-)

[GarryP]

Ah, that’s fair enough. Twitter does seem to let you see them a bit better but I’m not a member of either so I get a lot of ‘join us and let us store your data’ banners and stuff like that so I can’t actually see much beyond the pop-ups. The maps look great from what I can see though. Have you had a look at https://www.deviantart.com/ ? They let people see the whole image and they provide other services for prints etc.

[William Overington]

4 hours ago, GarryP said:

I definitely don’t think you should use a steam train symbol as that’s a bit outdated and wouldn’t match your clean and modern design.
 

A steam train symbol can be used where a steam heritage railway has a shared station with an ordinary railway, or is close by. For example, at Kidderminster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidderminster_railway_station

Also, incidentally, I think that a partial view of a steam engine (that is, a tender locomotive without its tender) is used to indicate a level crossing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossings_in_the_United_Kingdom

http://www.ukmotorists.com/levelcrossing_signs.asp

Are there any level crossings in the Nottingham tram system?

Or, being a tram system are there some parts of it where ordinary road traffic and trams share the same roadway? 

William

 

 

[transitdiagrams]

4 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Ah, that’s fair enough. Twitter does seem to let you see them a bit better but I’m not a member of either so I get a lot of ‘join us and let us store your data’ banners and stuff like that so I can’t actually see much beyond the pop-ups. The maps look great from what I can see though. Have you had a look at https://www.deviantart.com/ ? They let people see the whole image and they provide other services for prints etc.

Hmmm haven't had a look at it yet but know this service and was never a fan of it. 

I guess I will have to set up a website for best control and experience. In the meantime I'll try to update my Behance portfolio with my published maps. 

[PaulEC]

4 hours ago, GarryP said:

I definitely don’t think you should use a steam train symbol as that’s a bit outdated

Although it is still used on road signs. (Probably because it's silhouette is easily recognizable, whereas a modern train tends to look like a block which could be anything!)

[GarryP]

William, I think Chris’ map is only for people travelling on the tram system rather than as a tourist map – there’s no other tourist-relevant information on it – but, of course, when there’s a need to say where heritage stations are then using a steam engine would be totally appropriate. As for the sharing of roads, again, on this map, I don’t think there’s a need to show it since someone travelling by tram is unlikely to have a car with them, so the extra information would be irrelevant to most people using the map.

Chris, I think I was a member of deviantart a long time ago, at least I’m fairly sure I was, but I didn’t use it much. So much could have changed since then.

PaulEC, the steam engine silhouette is certainly more recognisable I just didn’t think it would look right on this modern-looking map. It seemed a bit wrong to me but it could, in the end, be the best solution. It’s probably still on signs because I imagine the legal shenanigans to get it changed – not to mention the public outcry – would be something of a nightmare. And, yes, I agree that most modern trains are a bit blocky.

[Alfred]

54 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Twitter does seem to let you see them a bit better but I’m not a member of either so I get a lot of ‘join us and let us store your data’ banners and stuff like that so I can’t actually see much beyond the pop-ups.

Try a different browser, Garry. When I dismiss the invitation to log in or sign up, I don’t get any pop-ups obscuring the images.

[GarryP]

Alfred, it’s not really my browser that’s the problem rather than the extensions and plug-ins I am running.
I have all kinds of blockers running and I very rarely accept cookies from sites that I don’t use regularly and trust.
Therefore my browser window sometimes gets a bit full with:
* banners asking me to accept cookies (which can cover quarter of the window);
* “we see you’re using an ad-blocker” overlays (which can cause the site to be pretty-much unreadable);
* log-in pop-ups which can’t be dismissed because they need Javascript which has been disabled, etc.
I’m a victim of my own cautiousness but it’s something I can put up with.

[transitdiagrams]

Hey @GarryP!

Have exchanged the train icon and enlarged the icons overall a bit:

 

[transitdiagrams]

By the way: have done a pridemonth rainbow edition too :-) 

This one is highly experimental (gradient backgrounds are always problematic) and not intended for daily use.

Just for fun :-) I love the result.

[William Overington]

You may possibly already be aware of the London Underground map and its history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map

William

 

[transitdiagrams]

10 minutes ago, William Overington said:

You may possibly already be aware of the London Underground map and its history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map

William

 

Of course (it's not my favorite at all, especially its recents iterations), but that's not my major influence. More important to me are Massimo Vignelli's transit map works (especially New York City MTA Map from the 1970s and his never used map drafts for the Washington DC WMATA).

[William Overington]

Thank you for the leads.

I have found the following.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90175917/a-peek-at-massimo-vignellis-glorious-forgotten-subway-maps

William