New Information Design for the KVB
The first impressions of a new city can hold a special place in your memory. These strange times when you get to know it a little better day by day: First your own area and the one you go to work at. Then bit by bit new corners and streets that gradually form a complete image. The respective means of transport play a major role in those explorations. Travelling by bike or on foot allows you to get to know the city differently than somebody that only uses underground transportation. For me as a cyclist it did not take long to understand the structure of Cologne: The „Ringe“ (rings) and „Gürtel“ (belts) circle the center while the main streets all lead towards it. In a simplified version it resembles a spider‘s web. However all those connections were lost while looking at the railway map of the city. With its railways and subway cars the KVB provides one of the main means of transportation for the city of Cologne. It has therefor the opportunity to make the city more characteristic for its inhabitants. Unfortunately the current network does not offer much of a recognition value and is too unclear to provide comprehensibility. My goal with this thesis was to help make the city of Cologne more understandable. It was not about changing the structure of the city, but about creating means of communication that help reveal the existing structure.
Benedikt Schmitz
Bachelor of Arts Integrated Design
www.b-schmitz-com
