Reddit community ‘Data is Beautiful’ created a series of animations comparing subway maps to their actual geography
Source: 15 Subway Maps Compared to Their Actual Geography «TwistedSifter
I found this article thanks to my husband’s cousin, who is a world traveler and a map buff. You should really take a look!
When I took Visual Design courses in grad school, this was an example of how user experience design can make a difference in helping users know how to use the subway–wherever it was. The original London Underground map that kicked it off (I believe it was them) was genius, because the creator realized that creating something that looked more like a grid than the actual geography would be easier for people to understand. Obviously, this style of design was copied for other metro systems, and it’s been helpful for all these cities. This article shows the differences between what the UX design maps are versus the real maps of the same metro lines. Fascinating!
What are some other great uses of UX design that don’t mimic the actual thing? Include your comments below.
–TechCommGeekMom
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About TechCommGeekMom
Danielle M. Villegas is a technical communicator who currently consults for Cox Automotive, Inc., and freelances as her own technical communications consultancy, Dair Communications. She has worked at the International Refugee Committee, MetLife, Novo Nordisk, BASF North America, Merck, and Deloitte, with a background in content strategy, web content management, social media, project management, e-learning, and client services. Danielle is best known in the technical communications world for her blog, TechCommGeekMom.com, which has continued to flourish since it was launched during her graduate studies at NJIT in 2012. She has presented webinars and seminars for Adobe, the Society for Technical Communication (STC), the IEEE ProComm, TCUK (ISTC) and at Drexel University’s eLearning Conference. She has written articles for the STC Intercom, STC Notebook, the Content Rules blog, and The Content Wrangler as well. She is very active in the STC, as a former chapter president for the STC-Philadelphia Metro Chapter, and is currently serving on three STC Board committees. You can learn more about Danielle on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemvillegas, on Twitter @techcommgeekmom, or through her blog.
