- Published: 11 February 2011
- ISBN: 9780262015486
- Imprint: MIT Press
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 144
- RRP: $100.00
Helvetica and the New York City Subway System
The True (Maybe) Story
- Published: 11 February 2011
- ISBN: 9780262015486
- Imprint: MIT Press
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 144
- RRP: $100.00
A concise history of the New York subway, a visual archive of century's worth of underground signs (some of which are still in use), and an impressive study of the conflict between the purity of design and the messiness of the real world.—The Wilson Quarterly— [D]esign projects are rarely tidy; they're much likelier to be muddled, chaotic, and to be determined by flukes, gaffes and compromises as much as forethought. It's always refreshing to come across an unexpurgated account of the messy reality, and the American design historian Paul Shaw has produced a particularly thoughtful and engaging example in his new book, Helvetica and the New York City Subway System. —Alice Rawsthorn, The New York Times— Mr. Shaw makes clear in one of the best-researched books on modern design to date, this most New York of places is today a realm dominated by a Swiss typeface specified by a pair of Italian designers. There isn't better testimony to the city as a melting pot or to the strange turns that any major design project inevitably takes. —The Wall Street Journal—