even for a regular commuter going to a newer
destination. Two first-year students of Masters in
Visual Communication programme of Industrial
Design Centre (IDC), IIT-Bombay, Jaikishan Patel and
Snehal Patil, have come up with an easy to understand
and commuter-friendly colour-coded railway map for
the travellers.
The map, designed by the students, includes
connecting routes that link western, central, harbour
and trans-harbour train stations. It also attempts to
incorporate the route map of the metro line under
construction and Nerul-Uran railway link. Speaking
about the special features of this railway map, Patil
said, "Our map introduces a quick navigation system,
which lets the user locate his stations within seconds
using the box grid. We have introduced grid system in
a different way. The newly designed map also includes
the shuttle express way which runs from Vasai to
Roha."
The pleasant and visually appealing map is also
designed to cater to the colour blind population.
"According to statistics, approximately 13,956 people
from different regions in India, suffer from colour-
blindness. We have tested the map for the same and
made changes accordingly," added Patel.
Designing this map had its own share of bottlenecks.
Developing a navigation system was a challenge in
itself and the other one was to keep it small and
portable, (i.e. to accommodate all the lines in a small
size of A5 and ensure it was still legible). According to
Professor Mandar Rane, associate professor, visual
communication, IDC, who acted as a guide to these
students, "If the maps are not installed on the stations
and people are not using them then it's not worth the
effort. This map is useful and the students have
designed it very well. The day we launched it through
Facebook, it generated a great response."
Students have also come-up with an A4 size of the
map which can be folded into a 5cm x 7cm leaflet and
can be easily carried in a wallet. The map is currently
available in English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati
version. The maps can be downloaded from the link
click here
