Hasta La Ideas

This writer has been out in Washington DC for the past week for reasons completely unrelated to anything design (and contrary to rumors, he’s also not here testing the waters for a possible run at the GOP nomination). But of course, wherever we go, there’s something interesting and design-based. Such is the case with the news that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has re-hired super-designer Lance Wyman, the designer who created its original transit system map more than thirty years ago, to add a new rail line to the map and make other, smaller additions and changes along the way. And even though Wyman created the original, the Washington Post says the this new, updating task is “fraught with peril” and the designers they spoke to for a story about the designer’s new challenge is “the equivalent of trying to make a new label to replace the distinct red and white of the Campbell’s soup can.” The thing we’re most concerned with is the friend we had breakfast with yesterday morning (at Georgetown’s own Chadwicks), who after our meal said he was on the hunt for a new shower curtain, one he’d seen at another friend’s house, which featured the iconic Metro map. Now we wish we’d told him to hold off for a bit, as it’s soon going to be out of date. Here’s some video of Wyman talking about the original:

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