In a city with a metro system, each trainset should be painteed a separate theme, both for the art and for passenger recognizability ("I lost my bag on the train with the sunflower scenery"). If the lines have separate fleets (as in Paris and London but not Berlin), then the art could even be color-coded, so the Central line gets paintings with reds, the Piccadilly with dark blues, etc. What are some examples of themes for such painting?
@Alon
I'm not gonna say I'm against the idea, and I do see the advantages. But I'd put it pretty low on priorities.
Considering they (at least here) allow full wraps as advertisements then doing full wraps for art and identity should obviously also allowed.
I do think the travel industry is missing an opportunity in not doing full wrap & interiors to match those in the city one is advertising travel to.
i.e. a train in Berlin done in TfL colors inside & out for 6 months to advertise London.
@Alon Sure, but make sure you leave the windows clear so that those inside can look outside. Sure most will be looking at their phone or talking to a neighbor. However there are always a few who are not.
@Alon Sports Teams: Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Nicks, Mets. Each team could have multiple trains with each train dedicated to a famous athlete-- Yankees could have a Babe Ruth train and Mets could have a Tom Seaver train.
Famous People-- can include artists, writers, musicians and activists. IMO there are already too many things named after politicians. Billy Joel, Jay-Z, Ella Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Rivera... the list of famous new yorkers goes on and on
@Alon
Some Categories w/ Examples From NYC
Local Landmarks: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Empire State Building
Museums: Metropolitan, MOMA, Guggenheim. Each museum can have multiple trains based on a different type or period of art that it holds
Zoos: Each zoo can have multiple trains based on different animals
Famous media/TV in the city: Taxi, Friends
@Alon I understand why this can’t work in most cases, but I think bus liveries w graphics showing route/destinations would be an aid to a lot of people.
@Alon this aligns closely with one of my favorite I-am-not-a-crackpot ideas: the MTA should reserve several trainsets to be painted by taggers every month. Have a juried competition to select who gets to do it, then publish the timetables for the graffiti trains like they do for the nostalgia trains. Have Instagram sponsor it all: people will fall over themselves to take selfies on them.
I'm colorblind. I Green and Red are very close to the same color, if you do shades of either I can't always tell the difference. A few years ago I lived where the route numbers were done in the color of the line - to green line buses had a blank sign to me unless it was dark and the bus was close.
I realize color is easy, and works for about 95% of the population, but the other 5% it doesn't work for and that is a lot of people in your city. So I'm fine with coloring lines, but make sure that color name is written in black and white (or other high contrast color) everyplace so those of us who maybe can't tell the color can still read it.
@bluGill@pony@DiegoBeghin Yeah, color always reinforces other things, including line names, numbers/letters, or both.
With thematic colors, the color reinforces other things as well. So a red line would have red-themed paintings: a bed of roses, Mars, a volcano, Cupid with a red heart, a cityscape with red brick buildings, the Sith, Super Mario, Spiderman. And then a green line would have different paintings, not the same ones but with a palette swap.
This should also include some limited amounts of advertising, using brands that can expect to last for the lifetime of a trainset, or at least until mid-life refurbishment (20 years). For examples, Pokemon, Star Wars, the Disney Animated Canon, Barbie, Super Mario, DC and Marvel superheroes, and Hello Kitty - anything else I'm forgetting? These should be a minority of paintings, maybe 15-20% maximum.
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