Graphics Standards
I spent the good part of today looking through a beautiful reproduction of the Graphics Standards Manual for the New York City Transit Authority.
The original three-ring-binder version of this book was designed by Massimo Vignelli and his partners at Unimark fifty years ago to codify the graphic design system for what is now the MTA.
Recently, a small Brooklyn-based publishing company called Standards Manual has carefully repackaged it, presenting it in an entirely new light.
A favorite example of the detailed, instructional tone of the GSM can be found in this description of how information should be presented to subway riders as they move though the system:
This diagram explains the sequence of information to the subway rider. It is a branching system that will lead him to his destination as directly as possible. The basic concept of this branching system is that the subway rider should only be given information at the point of decision. Never before. Never after.
The GSM covers every thinkable aspect of the design and construction of signage seen in and around the NYC subway system. On street-level entrances and exits. In station halls. On platforms. Outside trains. Inside trains.
As a graphics standards manual, the book is full of letter and number forms, shapes, and symbols. There is only one typeface - Helvetica, of course - a result of Vignelli’s fixation on readability. And lots of directional arrows too, because fundamentally this design system is about wayshowing.
It all looks familiar for regular users of the NYC subway, yet seeing it as a set of instructions inspires new appreciation for how important graphics standards are for delivering a consistent information experience across such a massive system (472 stations).
A paper sash wrapping the cover carries a short introduction from Pentagram’s design chief Michael Beirut in which he comments on the impact this work has had on the world of design, and his own.
What is it that resonates about this book?
I have two working theories.
One is that something as mundane as subway directional signage can be seen as interesting and important when presented as thoughtfully and carefully as this. I am thinking not only about the seminal work from Unimark, but also the republishing by Standards Manual.
The other is that the book serves as THE exemplar precursor to contemporary user experience design. If one replaces “riders” and “information” with “end users” and “experience” many of its concepts have held, and been applied in digital products that we use all the time.
Thank you Standards Manuals for keeping the presses running and the shop open!
Please take a look at the GSM for NYCTA and others, here.
