A fascinating exploration of the origins, challenges and evolution of these seminal information graphics from two major urban transit systems. Having employed modern mapping abstraction to great effect in London, the designer Harry Beck was hired to do the same for Paris. His final submitted version was ultimately rejected, in part because it was too evocative of the London map — or not distinctly Parisian enough. But after decades of additional design revision, the current Paris Metro map is essentially the same as what Beck designed.
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