Given that Paris has some long station names, this was certainly an intentional design characteristic, too. Compared to it, it has numerals which are more readable and very strong terminals, as well as a more condensed feel to it. Parisine was specifically designed to be better than Helvetica as far as legibility goes. This distinctive all-caps signage can still be found all over the Métro. He did, though it was decided to use Métro Alphabet only to replace damaged signage, or signage which carried out-of-date information. But RATP wasn’t completely satisfied with the RER signage, and asked Univers designer Adrian Frutiger to draw a special version for the Métro. The colours of station signage on the RER reverted to white text on a blue background, using Univers as the typeface. The construction of the first RER lines in the 1970s meant more thought was given to signage. The result was the signage that can still be found all over the subway, like the one below at Place Des Fêtes: At the time, Univers was the default typeface being used, but RATP commissioned Adrian Frutiger to redraw it for the Métro. This is/was the Métro Alphabet, and it goes back to the 70’s when the first RER lines were being constructed and more care was needed to be given to signage. If you’ve spent a good amount of time in Paris, maybe you’ll remember seeing a different style of subway signage, with white uppercase names on a dark blue background. As you’d expect, Paris is… delicately complicated. It was designed in late 1996 by Jean-François Porchez, and ever since then it has seen its own super family grow quite rapidly.īut Paris, much like Berlin as we’ll soon see, is also a wonderful reflection of the city’s complex and rich design history and historical background, and you’ll still see plenty of typefaces and design variations around it. Parisine is the official typeface for the Paris subway system (it is used in the Paris Métro, tramways, buses and RER parts operated by the RATP Group in Île-de-France) since 2015. Some of the reasons for that often go back for centuries sometimes, the city itself refuses to let go of the past. Some cities are so historically rich that their typographical history still partly blends with their past, often impeding the new design choices from going forwards. While doing the research for this, something became quite clear: it’s never a simple story to tell. Today, we’re having a look at some of the world’s most iconic subway (or metro, or tube) systems, and their respective typography choices and design background. While the answer to this has been the subject of many books and involves disciplines from socioeconomics, intercontinental conflicts, to architecture, today I’d like to focus on one undeniably important aspect that plays a major role in defining a city who has one: the subway system. Having lived in a few different countries around the world by now (□□□□□□□□) , I’m constantly thinking about how one city feels different than the previous: the little details that made London feel like London what made Berlin feel like Berlin. You may want to save it for later if you’re on a strict mobile phone data plan.įew things are more fascinating than cities. ⚠️ Heads up! This article is heavy on images and if you scroll to the end, you’ll have consumed 11mb in data. Ricardo Magalhães' blog Typography on the Subway: A Trip Around the World
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