affinity designer Dessau - Streetcar Transit Map - Bauhaus Homage

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Hi :-)

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

Here is another one of my recent works: a Dessau (Germny) streetcar system map in my own interpretation (unofficial of course). The style is highly inspired by Bauhaus. Hence I am paying homage to this design movement which influences all my thinking and graphic design.



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/night!
Chris

[GarryP]

Nice work again.
Simple – in a good way – and effective.

There are some areas in which I have concerns but they’re very minor concerns:
1. The dessau train station (top of map) doesn’t have a dotted line with it whereas the other two do.
2. I might have been tempted to put the boxed “3” at junkerspark (bottom left) over the track rather than beside it (don’t know if that would be better or worse).
3. The lines look like they extend off the map which, to me, gives the impression that the tracks themselves continue onto other maps. I don’t know if this is the case. I realise the extended lines compliment the extended lines of the logotype so I don’t know if this is important.
4. The stop at august-bebel-platz looks like it only goes one way. Is this correct?
5. I might have been tempted to make the train graphics a bit more opaque. I only say this as I wondered what the map would look like on a display board under dirty/rain-spattered plastic. It’s a nice visual effect, but it might make the map harder to read.
6. “dessau” in the logotype isn’t nicely centred inside the circle. (Now I’m being too picky so I’ll stop there.)

As I said, these are all very minor concerns and should in no way detract from the map itself.

[transitdiagrams]

Hi @GarryP!

Thank you so much for your remarks and nice feedback!

10 minutes ago, GarryP said:

1. The dessau train station (top of map) doesn’t have a dotted line with it whereas the other two do.

The dotted line indicat that one has to go a little bit to go the train station. At the Hauptbahnhof the streetcar stops directly there.

12 minutes ago, GarryP said:

2. I might have been tempted to put the boxed “3” at junkerspark (bottom left) over the track rather than beside it (don’t know if that would be better or worse).

Indeed, that's the one label that doesn't fit into my system. But it's the only way to put it.

14 minutes ago, GarryP said:

3. The lines look like they extend off the map which, to me, gives the impression that the tracks themselves continue onto other maps. I don’t know if this is the case. I realise the extended lines compliment the extended lines of the logotype so I don’t know if this is important.

The idea behind this map is to make it a little bit artistic due to its strong reference to Bauhaus design.

17 minutes ago, GarryP said:

4. The stop at august-bebel-platz looks like it only goes one way. Is this correct?

Yes, it's correct.

17 minutes ago, GarryP said:

5. I might have been tempted to make the train graphics a bit more opaque. I only say this as I wondered what the map would look like on a display board under dirty/rain-spattered plastic. It’s a nice visual effect, but it might make the map harder to read.

If it were to be used in daily life you are absolutely right. It's secondary information only - the focus is merely on design and showing the streetcar network.

20 minutes ago, GarryP said:

6. “dessau” in the logotype isn’t nicely centred inside the circle. (Now I’m being too picky so I’ll stop there.)

The d is aligned with the a above. And "aßenba" defines the position and dimension of the circle. That's the reasoning behind it.

 

Thanks again for your detailed comments and inputs! 

Chris

[Alfred]

36 minutes ago, GarryP said:

(Now I’m being too picky so I’ll stop there.)

Is it too picky to mention that “No offical diagram” is missing the second “i” in “official”? (It would be more idiomatic to say “Not an official diagram”.)

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36 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Is it too picky to mention that “No offical diagram” is missing the second “i” in “official”? (It would be more idiomatic to say “Not an official diagram”.)

Thanks  always make that mistake. 

[GarryP]

1 hour ago, ChrisSmere said:

The dotted line indicat that one has to go a little bit to go the train station.

Ah, a nice little touch. (I wonder if that breaks the “physical distance is irrelevant” nature of this kind of map but I don’t have any particular problem with it. It’s your map and you’ve done it your way. Nothing wrong with that.)

1 hour ago, ChrisSmere said:

Indeed, that's the one label that doesn't fit into my system. But it's the only way to put it.

That’s okay. I don’t really have a better suggestion.

1 hour ago, ChrisSmere said:

The idea behind this map is to make it a little bit artistic due to its strong reference to Bauhaus design.

That’s fine by me.

1 hour ago, ChrisSmere said:

Yes, it's correct.

Hmm. So how do the streetcars get to stops ‘up the line’ - e.g. Triftweg - before they can get to August-bebel-platz? Or, in other words, how would someone get from Theater to Triftweg? Or, to put it in a bit of a silly way, is there a really busy streetcar factory near Junkerspark and a massive stockpile of empty streetcars near Dassau? I’m probably missing something obvious aren’t I?

1 hour ago, ChrisSmere said:

It's secondary information only - the focus is merely on design and showing the streetcar network

Not a problem. The map does what you want it to do so that’s all good.

1 hour ago, ChrisSmere said:

The d is aligned with the a above. And "aßenba" defines the position and dimension of the circle.

Would slightly increasing the tracking in “dessau” make a difference?

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2 hours ago, GarryP said:

Hmm. So how do the streetcars get to stops ‘up the line’ - e.g. Triftweg - before they can get to August-bebel-platz? Or, in other words, how would someone get from Theater to Triftweg? Or, to put it in a bit of a silly way, is there a really busy streetcar factory near Junkerspark and a massive stockpile of empty streetcars near Dassau? I’m probably missing something obvious aren’t I?

Yes ans no! It's merely served in one direction. Sometimes it's not possible to have a stop for both directions. It's an old system by the way.

btw: where would all the streetcars go from your really busy streetcar factory in the end, @GarryP?

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

Would slightly increasing the tracking in “dessau” make a difference?

Don't want to touch the tracking in this case. It is perfectly fine as it is. I like asymmetry - it's more beautiful for it is natural. 

[GarryP]

16 hours ago, ChrisSmere said:

It's merely served in one direction.

Ah, that makes sense. Not sure why it was so difficult for me to figure that out for myself.

16 hours ago, ChrisSmere said:

where would all the streetcars go from your really busy streetcar factory in the end

I imagined them all ending up in some “massive stockpile of empty streetcars”, maybe line after line of them in a field somewhere. And what if some people didn’t get off them at the end of the line? There might be some kind of post-apocalyptic town of streetcar-dwellers scavenging what they could from the things that people forgot to take with them. A micro-economy based on discarded free newspapers, crisp packets and partially-emptied coffee cups perhaps. Emaciated dogs running wild while children gang together to fight over who controls the only solar-power smart phone charger... Of course, I’m just being silly again.

16 hours ago, ChrisSmere said:

Don't want to touch the tracking in this case.

I have no problem with that.

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4 hours ago, GarryP said:

And what if some people didn’t get off them at the end of the line? There might be some kind of post-apocalyptic town of streetcar-dwellers scavenging what they could from the things that people forgot to take with them. A micro-economy based on discarded free newspapers, crisp packets and partially-emptied coffee cups perhaps. Emaciated dogs running wild while children gang together to fight over who controls the only solar-power smart phone charger... 

That's ingenious  

[GarryP]

The stuff that pops into my head can be a little weird sometimes.
Mostly it’s the equivalent of an empty dust-scoured parking lot, but every now and again the circus rolls into town.

[William Overington]

Very nice.

I like the use of the triangles.

The use of that large disc is impressive

I also like the Oklahoma panhandle effect - can you say what inspired you to have that shape at the lower right please?

It really does look like it is a print conserved from the 1920s.

You and some others might like the following.

https://www.dezeen.com/2019/04/12/bauhaus-architecture-design-school-a-z/

The website might ask if you want to register for its newsletter. Yet the newsletter is very good.

Just close the panel if you don't want to register, it does not stop you reading the website.

Searching for

Bauhaus

at https://www.dezeen.com/

and there are also the following articles.

https://www.michellesblog.co.uk/isokon-joins-the-blue-plaque-elite/

https://www.michellesblog.co.uk/christmas-shopping-in-nw3/

At the time the first of those two articles came out I found the building in Google street view, and the Google street view presentation gives a good idea of the setting of the building in its surroundings.

William

 

[William Overington]

By the way, what is the typeface that you used for the title please?

William

 

 

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7 hours ago, GarryP said:

Mostly it’s the equivalent of an empty dust-scoured parking lot, but every now and again the circus rolls into town.

I saw it when reading this :-) Wonderful!  In German we call the "Kopfkino" which is literally "head cinema". 

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Thank you so much :-)  @William Overington!

 

16 minutes ago, William Overington said:

I also like the Oklahoma panhandle effect - can you say what inspired you to have that shape at the lower right please?

Hmmm, if you ask now I can't answer it. Sorry. Actually now it seems unnecessary to me. Thanks for pointing in that direction.

 

And also thanks for the links and further readings! Will look into these!

 

16 minutes ago, William Overington said:

By the way, what is the typeface that you used for the title please?

The font is called "Jost*" (formerly known as "Renner*") - find it here: https://indestructibletype.com/Jost.html 

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by the way - here is the first draft of the map - just found it - corrected the spelling in the legend now:

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and an slightly updated version of the blue map:

corrected the "offical" - thanks to @Alfred! - and evolved the shape at the bottom (which was already done but I haven't exported that map yet), @William Overington.

[William Overington]

Well, if I may say so, I thought that the Oklahoma panhandle shape was good.

William

 

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7 hours ago, William Overington said:

Well, if I may say so, I thought that the Oklahoma panhandle shape was good.

I thought you meant the block at the bottom right :-) maybe I didn't get you properly - the pandhandle shape is the loop at the end of line 3, isn't it?

Sorry, I not an English native speaker thus sometimes I don't get every concept immediatly. 

[William Overington]

10 hours ago, ChrisSmere said:

I thought you meant the block at the bottom right :-) maybe I didn't get you properly - the pandhandle shape is the loop at the end of line 3, isn't it?

Sorry, I not an English native speaker thus sometimes I don't get every concept immediatly. 

Yes, the block at the bottom right. Not the loop at the end of line 3.

I used that term so as to describe it easily as it reminded me of the shape of part of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma is one of the States of the United States of America.

Oklahoma today has an unusual shape.

It is a very interesting story of how it all happened. It has its roots in the slavery system and attempts to stop the spread of the slavery system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Panhandle#History

quote

When Texas sought to enter the Union in 1845 as a slave state, federal law in the United States, based on the Missouri Compromise, prohibited slavery north of 36°30' parallel north. Under the Compromise of 1850, Texas surrendered its lands north of 36°30' latitude. The 170-mile strip of land, a "neutral strip", was left with no state or territorial ownership from 1850 until 1890. It was officially called the "Public Land Strip" and was commonly referred to as "No Man's Land."^[

end quote

William