Anyone who regularly uses Porto suburban trains is likely familiar with the strip map provided above each door in each wagon. Personally, every time I encounter this map, I feel a compelling urge to enhance its design, as I recognize its potential for improvement.
This map is familiar to all passengers who regularly use the suburban trains in Porto.
Despite its attempt to embody a modern and comprehensive approach, the map is full of design faults. The most blatant issue, in my opinion, is the merging of all lines with a certian width X, maintaining the overall width of the entire cluster as X. A more appealing solution, in my view, would be to either keep each line separated with a specific width, or merge them while using a single color. In general, all the lines, angles and bifurcations in the map appear to be very bad done.
However, the list of inaccuracies goes beyond this. A small sample taken from the central part of the map reveals numerous errors, as enumerated below:
1. Narrowing the thickness of the lines is not a standard in transit map design.
2. For the key stations, the green color appears to be prioritized without justification, since green uniquely corresponds to the Porto — Braga line.
3. In Ermesinde station, the blue line converges with other lines in a very slipshod way, with its parts sprawling irregularly around the green circle.
4. The blue line joins the bunch of lines at an acute angle.
5. The yellow line also joins the cluster of lines at an acute angle.
6. In Campanhã station, the green line has a rounding, but other lines lack the same feature.
7. In Campanhã, Cabeda, Ermesinde stations, as well as in other locations, the placement of circles over the lines’ angles is visually unappealing.
8. The text for Porto-Campanhã station is misaligned with the respective circle.
9. Instead of creating two rounded angles with 135º each, it's better to use one angle with 90º degrees, otherwise the line perfil is very uneven.
10. There's an excessive use of icons for metro lines, when one metro icon would be sufficient.
11. The text for Águas Santas / Palmilheira station needs alignment to enhance the appearance of its top-right corner.
12. It's unclear why Ermesinde and Campanhã circles are larger than the São Bento circle.
13. Irregular angles of lines’ inclination. Regarding the yellow line, the slope is flatter than in other places around the map.
Considering the imperfections of the official train map, I endeavored to enhance the design. Below, you can compare the official map with my version. (Sorry, I could not find a a higher-quality image of the official map).
I improved the flow of lines, making corners and bifurcations smoother. However, I was dissatisfied with the color selection. The combination of yellow, blue, green, and red lines, along with numerous motley icons, resulted in a design that felt too noisy. Consequently, I chose different shades of green to enhance the contrast.
Regarding icons, I reduced all metro signs to a single sky blue-colored symbol indicating metro connections. Bright pink is reserved for bus connections, consolidating logos for bus companies like TUB, STCP, TUG, and TUF under one bus sign. Dark blue is designated for parking.
In the official map, certain stations like Campanhã, Ermesinde, Lousado, Nine, etc., are marked with a circle of a larger radius than other stations. However, highlighting these specific stations doesn't provide specific information for users. In contrast, in my project, I deliberately highlighted the stations that have connetions with regional and intercity trains.
Creating a definitive project is challenging; when I examine the map, I consistently find areas for improvement. In one of the latest iterations, I discovered that on the light-green line (direction to Braga), the stretch between Nine and Couto de Cambeses lacked sufficient space, causing information to be compressed. The same issue occurred on the line to Aveiro. In the images below, you can compare the before and after scenarios.
Before (left) and after (right). As you can see, I needed to disprupt a steady sequence of stations to enhance legibility of this section.
This project is non-commercial, purely a creative proposal. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to share!
