Five Lessons in Web #Design and #Usability from the New York City Subway
Bob Noorda passed away in Milan on January 11. Who was Bob Noorda? In the 1960’s, he and Massimo Vignelli designed the New York City subway signs. Their designs were so well-crafted, that they remain in place today over 40 years later, and have achieved fame far beyond their original mission.
It struck me that, given the history and complexity of the New York City subway, this success provides a number of lessons for web projects – especially within large organizations
1. Clean and clear design
When you’re trying to help people navigate a system as large and chaotic as the New York city subway, it’s especially important not to give people one more thing to think about. Mr. Noorda is quoted as saying “don’t bore the public with mysterious designs”. He utilized a plain, clear typeface (Helvetica) and consistent verbiage and formatting.
Likewise, most website visitors aren't too interested in learning a "mysterious design". They want clear "signs" that point the way to information they're trying to find.
2. Scope
If you are unfamiliar with the city, you may not know whether the Guggenheim is uptown or downtown. But once you do look at a map and determine a route, you’ll be in good hands when you enter the train station. You may get sidetracked by the infamous garbled service announcements, but it’s simple to find which track gets you uptown or downtown, to the Bronx or to Brooklyn, and which is the express and which the local.
This is a key point. The subway signs design would have gotten bogged down if had tried to do more, because, above ground, New York is too chaotic to capture in this context.
3. Data-driven design
“I remember when Bob came to New York and spent every day underground in the subway to record the traffic flow in order to determine the points of decision where the signs should be placed” his partner Massimo Vignelli said.
Sounds like Noorda watched how people were using the subway, and used that data to design a highly usable system. This is a great reminder not to let a good opinion get in the way of facts.
In fact, the New York Times obituary says that Mr. Noorda’s simple designs were initially resisted by groups within the M.T.A. (the organization that runs the subway). Unsurprisingly, the data-driven design eventually won the day.
4. Focus on the customers’ experience – not your organizational silos
The subway system as we know it today resulted from the mergers of a number of different agencies. The signage of the day reflected this lack of cohesion. For example, this schedule from 1948 shows that subway riders had to sort through multiple naming conventions to find their route (e.g.: IND lines had adopted letter names before the other agencies did). The Times obituary also states that “the existing signs they encountered were cluttered with various typefaces of different sizes.” Mr. Noorda was quoted as saying “sometimes pieces of paper taped to the wall were the only indication for the station.”
Think you would have been able to find the Guggenheim?
5. Optimize! Optimize! Optimize!
In the 1980’s the M.T.A showed us that there’s always room for improvement.
Noorda’s color-scheme, which had identified each train by a different color, was a key piece of the system’s usability. The M.T.A. improved upon his convention by consolidating the color-scheme, so that related train routes would now share colors.
Compare the iconic subway map of the 1970’s to the present day version to see how this change not only simplified, but added context to the color scheme. Now, if a train has a green color, for example, you know it will travel down Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.
I hope this reference is a good selling point for web usability going forward. Now if they can only fix those garbled announcements….
