Silver Line (Washington Metro) - Effect On The Metro Map

Effect On The Metro Map

Metro's iconic rail map, in distribution since Lance Wyman and Bill Cannan (Wyman & Cannan) designed it in 1976, takes – according to some observers – a "pop art" approach to representing its subway network. The Metro rail map uses unusually "thick" strokes to mark its radial lines. To fit in the current space and make use of the iconography as currently proportioned, the map relies upon the fact that no more than two lines overlap at any single location. The addition of the Silver Line, however, will create a three-line overlap from Rosslyn to Stadium-Armory, a fact that led WMATA to publicly announce in 2010 that it is considering a new map design. A number of unofficial attempts by graphic designers to redraw the Washington Metro map to include the Silver Line have done so by thinning the strokes throughout. In 2003, predating Booth's attempt, WMATA released a professionally designed graphic that displayed the Silver Line on an unofficial map that resembled the current version, but with thin lines. The interplay between Metro's unofficial proposal and those of other designers has received attention in a number of press outlets. A poster displaying a map of similar design has been hanging in DC Councilman Jack Evans' office for a number of years, but received scant attention until 2008. Wyman, one of the original designers of the map, was confirmed as the layout specialist who would be redesigning the map by the Washington Post on June 4, 2011. A thick-line version of the map, released as part of Metro's "Rush+" plan, shows the Silver Line spurring off the Orange Line between the Ballston and East Falls Church stations in a northwesterly direction, with five unlabeled stops (presumably the Phase I stations).