theatlantic:

Uncovering the First, Fascinating Rulebook for Subway Sign Design

The 180-page binder, the key to the system’s iconic design choices, outlines a meticulous vision of signage intended not merely to look good — though it does — but to simplify navigation of the subterranean labyrinth. In its attention to passenger behavior, the manual goes above and beyond what most of us would term graphic design.

“The subway rider should be given only information at the point of decision,” proclaimed the designers. “Never before. Never after.”

Read more. [Images: NYCTA]

theatlantic:

In Focus: Grand Central Terminal Turns 100

A century ago, rail travel was at its peak in the U.S., and New York City built the massive Grand Central Terminal to accommodate the growth. Built over 10 years, gradually replacing its predecessor named Grand Central Station, the Grand Central Terminal building officially opened on February 2, 1913. The terminal and the surrounding neighborhood thrived — by 1947, 65 million people a year were traveling through the building. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, rail travel declined sharply, and Grand Central Terminal fell into disrepair, threatened several times with demolition. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority was able to undertake a huge restoration in the 1990s, and Grand Central remains a New York City icon today, 100 years after it first opened.

See more. [Images: AP, Reuters, Getty, Library of Congress]

warbyparker:

Familiar and iconic places—normally bustling with moving bodies—are shown emptied and reticent, cast in an undeniably eerie, post-apocalyptic gloom. (via architizer)