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February 9, 2004
Metro Ugly
Not metro chic, not sexy ugly. Metro ugly. As in NYC's metrocards are perhaps one of the ugliest designs that have ever come out of the MTA.
For a city that has produced beautiful subway maps, signs, and general iconography, not to mention stunning token designs, how did we come to this orange/yellow dud? The actual metrocard machines are pretty cool looking, even if they don't always work that well.
This has bothered me since the cards came out, somewhere around 1997. Tien remembers when they were blue (which I somehow missed), but even these were rather heinous looking.
I've spent a bit of time surfing my dear friend Google, trying to figure out what design firm was responsible for the metrocard. It makes me feel like some dude in a control tower got his hands on Harvard Graphics and banged the design out as a joke, only for it to be accidentally assimilated into everyday use.
Seriously, people. Couldn't they have held a design competition in NYC high schools or something? Or is ugly really chic?
In this quest to figure out why NYC metrocards are so ugly, I'm beginning an investigation into what other cities and countries use for their subway cards. After all, maybe ours aren't that ugly in the scope of things. We shall see.
I leave you with two of Osaka's subway fare cards:
"No-My-Car-Day" Pass
Special discount ticket available for use every Friday and Osaka City's official "No-My-Car" days on the 20th of every month. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the posting this card because of its name-- the one day pass looks the same except it's green). Note the use of bright colors and cute cartoon-y character. Not that I think that we should have a cartoon character on our cards...but some nice brightly colored subway line circles might jazz it up a little.
Surutto Kansai Cards
Issued respectively by affiliated transportation companies, this card can be used on any trains and buses of the member companies, and save your trouble to purchase the ticket each times. Osaka municipal transportation bureau issues a prepaid card named "Rainbow Card.” You can use this card by directly inserting it to the ticket gate or the fare box even in the case that the credit remaining on the card is not enough for one unit. In this case, please pay the difference at the arriving station. There is no term of validity.
Perhaps MP can clarify that card-- is there a machine that takes circular cards? If so, I want one. Regardless, that card is way cute. They might as well slap Keroppi on it and call it a day.
Posted by callalillie at February 9, 2004 9:30 PM |
Oh yeah, MetroCards were blue for like a month or two before they went "gold," not sure why.
Never saw the circular card. The "My Car" thing is funny, it reminds me of how you can meet someone on a subway car in the morning, because the trains always arrive on a schedule (digital signs in every station), and both the train cars and the doors of each car are numbered. Imagine that, MTA!
For the record, my favorite Japanese character is Anpan-man, a superhero whose head is a big azuki bean cake.
http://metropolis.japantoday.com/biginjapanarchive299/283/pics/anpanman.jpg
Posted by: mp at February 10, 2004 9:16 AM
I read an old 1992 City Journal article the other day that compared our subway to other city systems, such as the Paris Metro, etc. Basically, the crux of the article was that, while our system was once one of the most modern in the world, the city had refused to modernize it. Some of that has changed, but not much. I'll probably write about the article in a day or so.
And for the record, what I thought was my favorite Japanese character is actually Korean, but still hilarious-- Kogepan-- they look like little loaves of poo.
The deflated panda comes in at a close second. I think the panda is Japanese, no?
Posted by: corie at February 10, 2004 9:37 AM
The official colors of NYC are blue and orange. If the designers were told to use those colors, they were really put behind the eightball. That said, the card is still really ugly.
Posted by: bobtrancho at February 10, 2004 9:39 AM
WAIT A MINUTE. Our official colors are Mets colors? That's AWFUL. An ABOMINATION.
Hmmph.
Posted by: corie at February 10, 2004 9:41 AM
you've got it backwards... the Mets colors are the city colors... Remember Mets is short for Metropolitans (can that be any more lame?)
Posted by: bobtrancho at February 10, 2004 10:13 AM
No, I know I have it backwards, but still. I hate the Mets.
Posted by: corie at February 10, 2004 10:16 AM
wha? hate the mets?!? how can that be?!? you better not be a yankees fan.
actually, the mets took their colors from the departed dodgers and giants. and while orange and blue might be the official colors, that's where the mets got them. at least, that's what i think.
and besides, the knicks had those crappy colors first.
Posted by: tien at February 10, 2004 10:34 AM
the mets are amazin'. besides, what's wrong with blue and orange? those wonderful complimentary colors adorn the walls of my apartment.
Posted by: josé at February 10, 2004 10:43 AM
Ugh. I HATE the Mets. Yankees all the way. And besides, orange and blue are probably one of the ugliest color combinations. I don't care that they're complimentary colors. They suck.
Posted by: corie at February 10, 2004 10:44 AM
But I'm sure your apt is still beau-ti-ful, Jose :)
Posted by: corie at February 10, 2004 10:45 AM
hatin' on the orange? and i just used it as the major (only) color for my band's new website. alas, corie can never be a fan now.
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at February 10, 2004 11:48 AM
no no no. orange is ok. orange and blue are ok. the mets are not.
and the metrocard is butt ugly.
hope this clears stuff up.
sincerely,
the management
Posted by: corie at February 10, 2004 11:52 AM
The Dodgers' colors were blue and white. the Giants wore orange and (I think) black. The Mets were designed to pick up all the disaffected Dodger/Giants fans and, thus, chose the combination of colors.
Posted by: bobtrancho at February 10, 2004 12:32 PM
I can live with hating the Mets, but liking the Yankees... ugh.
I found a leftover Chicago metrocard, known as the CTA Transit Card, in my office. Same size and shape as MTA. The only nice thing I can say about it is the swipe direction arrow is big. Otherwise it is butt ugly.
Posted by: joe s at February 10, 2004 1:36 PM
"A metaphor might be useful in explaining why, in this clash of the New York titans, the Mets should be your team. Imagine if every Friday night, a major television network broadcast a fight to the death between a well-trained fighter and a gigantic titanium robot with chainsaws for arms. Everyone would watch, and for a while, some people might well root for the robot. Week after week, people would talk about the robot with awe: He can't lose! He's amazing! He's unstoppable! He's a JUGGERNAUT! But after, say, I don't know, a decade of this nonsense, I think everyone would be rooting for the fighter."
From the Salon article "Why You Should Root for th Mets" by someone you missed by about an hour at Sean's pool party this summer. From Oct 2000.
http://archive.salon.com/news/sports/2000/10/26/mets/print.html
Posted by: Brian at February 10, 2004 1:49 PM
I remember reading that article. I'm just morally against two teams: the Mets and the Red Sox. It was drilled into me from birth by my father and grandfather. I still think that Brooklyn should have gotten its own baseball team, not the Nets. Then everything would be settled. Just bring the Dodgers back.
Posted by: corie at February 10, 2004 1:55 PM
I think they have baseball in Japan, too.
Posted by: mp at February 10, 2004 2:52 PM
Posted by: corie at February 10, 2004 2:56 PM
The Yankees dynasty is ovuh. Face it. All good things come to an end. The Mets all the way, baby!
Posted by: josé at February 10, 2004 3:10 PM
i will cheer for the mets all season long. and when the postseason comes (presumably, they would be out), i cheer against the yankees. i can't think of a team i hate more. notre dame and ohio state come close, but i think the yankees are the worst. down with the evil empire!
Posted by: tien at February 10, 2004 3:40 PM
They sure are ugly. Chicago has the same size and shape card and actually manages to make it look halfway decent. It's time for a redesign.
Posted by: Mike at March 2, 2004 9:30 AM
I got a MTA CARD with rey Ordonez on it, from the 2000 subway series who wants it?
Posted by: pablo at April 26, 2004 9:31 AM
