Washington Metro

Lance Wyman and Bill Cannan's map, with Massimo Vignelli's Helvetica signs Two famous designers, one system, and a real argument between them. Wyman and Cannan drew the stylized route map that stresses routes, transfers and landmarks over distance, while Vignelli, through Unimark, designed the signs and pylons and even suggested the name Metro. When Wyman wanted icons inside the station dots, Vignelli objected that they clashed with his already approved signs. The system opened in 1976 and keeps evolving. In 2025 Metro moved its signs to Helvetica Now and changed its line letters on service discs from two to one. Pylon stripes, hard for low-vision riders to read, are giving way to colored discs.