Design On The Go: Taipei’s Metro Makeover
During Taipei’s year as the World Design Capital (WDC), various projects and installments have been integrated throughout the city, bringing design to the street level. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Taipei MRT, in conjunction with the WDC, Taipei has extended design concepts into their metro system.
The metro “Design Station” project helped to expand design concepts to a wider audience, while freshening up and enriching Taipei’s stations. New graphics and information videos decorated the stations and cars, reminding passengers of metro courtesies. Well-known design companies such as Whitelight Motion, Neil Tien design studio, Balance Wu Design, Liberté Design, and agoood were involved in the redesign and successfully turned various stations into culturally creative spaces.
Designed by Sdato Fang
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station featured a 40 meter wide and 2 meter high image depicting the WDC; including information on upcoming events and activities. Furthermore, on the wall inside Exit 5 of the station, a creative design was installed with the theme of “Swimming City”. This instalment was based on a collaboration between the Children Are Us Foundation, a local NGO which supports kids with learning difficulties, and design team agood. Children were invited to draw pictures, contributing to the design. The theme “Swimming City” was inspired by one child’s drawing of a “fish man”.
Designed by Zzifan_z
Simple colours were used in the metro signage designs, creating easy to understand and interesting depictions. The new signboards are inclusive, picturing people from a range of demographics. They’re even multilingual! This, combined with humorous language and fun animations, helps to attract the attention of passengers, while getting the message across at the same time.
Designed by Neil Tien and Ryan Lin
The “Design Station” project allowed for an interdepartmental collaboration between the Department of Cultural Affairs and Taipei Metro; bringing the liveliness of Taipei’s streets indoors. Through systematic thinking and a broad perspective, this project marks the evolution of the public sector in Taipei, bringing forth an example of Taipei’s creative scene. Taipei hopes this project will lead to public involvement in the designing of future public facilities and services.
