{"id":1788496,"date":"2020-02-27T15:49:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T20:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1788496"},"modified":"2020-02-27T15:49:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T20:49:22","slug":"michael-hertz-1932-2020-father-of-the-new-york-metro-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/02\/michael-hertz-1932-2020-father-of-the-new-york-metro-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Hertz, 1932-2020: ‘Father’ of the New York Metro Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Hertz, whose design firm<\/a> created the map of the New York City subway that in 1979 replaced a controversial (though critically acclaimed) design by Massimo Vignelli\u2014a map that today\u2019s map design<\/a> largely follows\u2014died earlier this month at the age of 87, the New York Times<\/em> reports<\/a>. See also BBC News<\/a>, CNN<\/a>, NBC New York<\/a>, the New York Post<\/em><\/a>\u2014that\u2019s rather a lot of attention.<\/p>\n

That 1979 map that has been critiqued, fulminated against and re-imagined over and over again has nonetheless managed to become iconic; however much the map offended various design aesthetics, as the Times<\/em> obituary (and previous coverage<\/a>) shows, it was created with care and purpose: the curves were deliberate, the references to aboveground landmarks were deliberate. It was a team effort, but the Times <\/em>obit had this interesting item about who should get the credit:<\/p>\n

There has been some sniping over the years as to who deserves credit for the 1979 map, with Mr. Hertz taking exception whenever Mr. Tauranac<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> was identified as \u201cchief designer\u201d or given some similar title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had parallel careers,\u201d Mr. Hertz told The New York Times<\/a> in 2012. \u201cI design subway maps, and he claims to design subway maps.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2004, the Long Island newspaper Newsday asked Tom Kelly, then the spokesman for the M.T.A., about who did what.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing I could probably tell you is to quote my sainted mother: \u2018Success has many fathers,\u2019\u201d Mr. Kelly said. \u201cThat\u2019s not to disparage any work that anybody else put into the map. But, in all honesty, it\u2019s Mike Hertz that did all the basic design and implementation of it. In all fairness, the father of this map, as far as we\u2019re concerned, is Mike Hertz.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"New<\/a>
MTA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 1979 map isn\u2019t quite<\/em> the same as the current version<\/a>. Transit Maps posted a copy in 2015, and has this to say about it<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s funny how we call this the \u2018same\u2019 map as today\u2019s version, because there\u2019s a lot <\/i>of differences, both big and small. The Beck-style tick marks for local stations as mentioned above, no Staten Island inset, the biggest legend box I\u2019ve ever seen, the colours used for water and parkland … the list goes on!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Hertz, whose design firm created the map of the New York City subway that in 1979 replaced a controversial (though critically acclaimed) design by Massimo Vignelli\u2014a map that today\u2019s map design largely follows\u2014died earlier… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[581,94],"tags":[1430,20,194],"class_list":["post-1788496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-obituaries","category-transit","tag-mta","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1838848,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/04\/new-york-city-subway-map-gets-a-complete-makeover\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788496,"position":0},"title":"New York City Subway Map Gets a Complete Makeover","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 April 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Marc A. Hermann\/MTA. CC licence. New York City\u2019s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced the first major redesign of its system map since 1979. The new map adopts a diagrammatic style, in common with most other transit maps around the world, for the first time since Massimo Vignelli\u2019s controversial (and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1807194,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/05\/topsy-turvy-the-london-underground-in-the-style-of-the-new-york-subway-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788496,"position":1},"title":"Topsy-Turvy: The London Underground in the Style of the New York Subway Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 May 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Plenty of cities\u2019 subway maps have been reimagined in the style of the London Underground map. Cameron Booth, for example, has redone New York\u2019s subway map in that style. But a map posted by a graphic designer named Sean to Reddit does the exact opposite: it reimagines the London Underground\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"London Underground map in the style of the New York subway map","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/london-tube-as-nyc-subway-map-1024x595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/london-tube-as-nyc-subway-map-1024x595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/london-tube-as-nyc-subway-map-1024x595.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/london-tube-as-nyc-subway-map-1024x595.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1789624,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/11\/new-york-citys-live-subway-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788496,"position":2},"title":"New York City\u2019s Live Subway Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 November 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"New York\u2019s Metropolitan Transit Authority has released a beta of a new digital subway map that aims to solve several problems at once. 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