User:Michael Hertz
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[edit] Michael Hertz
Michael Hertz founded Michael Hertz Associates, a graphic design firm specializing in maps and environmental graphics for mass transit systems, in New York City in 1969 and he remains principal of the firm. MHA is best known for its design of the 1979 New York City Subway Map, but the firm’s work includes many other transit projects in the New York City metropolitan area as well as maps for major transit systems such as Houston, Texas and Washington, DC and other smaller transit systems throughout the U.S.
The subway map, which replaced a critically praised but publicly unpopular abstract design by Massimo Vignelli, was extremely popular (the basic design has remained in use almost unchanged since 1979), because it represents a perhaps the first attempt to combine the design sensibility of an abstract map with the comfort of recognizable geography of a traditional map. While the geography looks like New York to the casual observer, it has been carefully and extensively manipulated to improve legibility in congested areas. Much of the design credit for this map goes to the artist and designer Nobu Siraisi, who worked for MHA during the period this map was under development.
In addition to its transit system work, Michael Hertz Associates has also produced a wide variety of maps and related designs for clients including the U.S. Department of the Army Center of Military History, the New York City Law Department and numerous clients in the business, non-profit and public sectors.
MHA is the recipient of many transit design awards, including The National Endowment for the Arts' Commendations for Design Excellence, and the firm’s work has appeared in a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition and an American Passenger Transport Association manual on excellence in transit system map design.
