Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story

by Paul Shaw

How New York City subways signage evolved from a "visual mess" to a uniform system with Helvetica triumphant.

For years, the signs in the New York City subway system were a bewildering hodge-podge of lettering styles, sizes, shapes, materials, colors, and messages. The original mosaics (dating from as early as 1904), displaying a variety of serif and sans serif letters and decorative elements, were supplemented by signs in terracotta and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 026201548X
• ISBN13: 9780262015486
• Release Date: February 2011
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 11.3" x 9.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher