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The Seoul subway map has changed for the first time in 40 years.
In the 1980s, when the route map was first created, there were 106 stations on 4 routes. As of 2023, it has increased to 624 stations on 23 routes. In the future, 10 new routes and GTX will be built within Seoul by 2025, but the map design has changed as it has become difficult to express the routes.
The new route map shows that Line 2, a circular line, has reached capacity. The remaining routes were expressed vertically, horizontally, and diagonally at a 45-degree angle.
The 'Octoliner' design method, which is the standard for world traffic diagram maps, was applied. The eight-line design was first applied to the London subway by Henry Beck in England in 1993 and has been used around the world.
Transfer stations are indicated by the colors of the lines that can be transferred to Taegeuk. English is also written below the bold Korean. The Han River and ocean topography were expressed to make it easier for people unfamiliar with Seoul's geography to predict where they are. They say they plan to add landmarks next year.
Colors and shapes are differentiated depending on the importance of the route. Main trains are maintained as bold lines, while urban rail, light rail, and trunk rail are represented by lines of lower hierarchy. The numbers indicating station numbers and routes have become slightly thinner and taller.
The user experience of the Seoul subway map has been greatly improved. There were too many complex expressions in a small area and it was difficult to understand, but we limited and divided the rules and solved it with a concise design.
You can now easily distinguish between numerous routes and destinations, and navigate your route seamlessly by color and destination name. Not to mention the usefulness of the subway map, it has improved a lot in terms of usability and aesthetics.
Every Tuesday morning, a designer with 16 years of experience curated Collect design trends.
