This project started with a challenge to design a subway map showing all current and future passenger rail services in the Washington, DC/Baltimore region in a clean, unified and easy to understand manner. I am fascinated with how railroads and rapid transit have changed city life over time and connected communities together. While based on Lance Wyman’s original Washington Metro map and my own artistic style, I heavily drew inspiration from Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 New York Subway map.

The success with my Washington map inspired me to create a map for the Philadelphia region in the same style. With additional inspiration coming from SEPTA's upcoming rebrand, this map proved challenging due to the numerous Regional Rail lines running through the core of the city.

The next city I focussed on was Chicago. This map ended up more complicated than I was anticipating because I wanted to keep stations along the same streets aligned with each other. The Chicago street grid is an important characteristic of the city, and is featured prominently on the official CTA map, and I wanted to pay homage to that.