Allard – THE DESIGN OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT MAPS 2009

Description

José Allard’s thesis treats public-transport maps as critical information-design artifacts that shape navigation, civic participation and city image, using London and New York as paradigms. It synthesizes cognitive cartography, semiotics and design theory to identify user needs across pre-trip, on-trip and post-trip stages, emphasizing wayfinding, legibility and cognitive load. The work reviews historical and practical scholarship, outlines graphic variables and an analytical framework for symbolization, generalization and typography, and contrasts manual, assisted and automated schematization—arguing automation lacks designers’ qualitative judgment. Case studies (Beck’s London diagram, Vignelli and Hertz in New York, Transantiago) demonstrate trade-offs between schematic clarity and geographic fidelity, recurrent user problems, and the need for intermodal, context-sensitive solutions. Practical guidance covers multi-scale strategies, symbol and color limits, label conventions, generalization operations and iterative workflow with user testing. The thesis advocates integrating empirical research, cartographic principles and graphic craft, plus interdisciplinary, long-term information strategies for usable, aesthetic transit maps.