Hasta La Ideas

Fact: Hoboken, New Jersey is closer to Manhattan than most parts of Brooklyn. But few newcomers to New York, and even fewer tourists, ever cross the Hudson River to venture into the Garden State. Folks who have lived here less than a decade don’t even seem to realize there’s a light rail system connecting NYC and Jersey, and NJ Transit’s atrocious website certainly doesn’t make it easy to navigate.

This week, however, an unusual confluence of events led up to the release of a new NYC-region mass transit map bringing Jersey into the fold. The Superbowl is coming to town—well, to the Meadowlands—next month, and to make it easier for the influx of football fans to find the stadium, the MTA commissioned the new map (above) from Vignelli Associates.

Massimo Vignelli, of course, has a long history with NYC mass transit and graphic design: In addition to bringing Helvetica to the subway system, his design for the New York City Subway Diagram of 1972 was loved by design fans for its clean, non-geographic presentation.

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