{{short description|American design firm}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} '''Michael Hertz Associates''' (MHA) is a New York City graphic design firm, best known for its 1979 design of the New York City Subway map and the station and subway car signage systems that the map engendered.<ref name= "designer">{{cite news |last=Hogarty |first=Dave |url=http://gothamist.com/2007/08/03/michael_hertz_d.php |title=Michael Hertz, Designer of the NYC Subway Map |work=Gothamist |date=August 3, 2007 |accessdate=September 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090818012400/http://gothamist.com/2007/08/03/michael_hertz_d.php |archive-date=August 18, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The 1979 map, with some modifications, remained the MTA's official subway map until April 2025. The firm specializes in maps and environmental graphics for mass transit systems.
== History == The firm was founded in 1969 by Michael Hertz (1932–2020).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/nyregion/michael-hertz-dead.html|title=Michael Hertz — You've Surely Seen His Subway Map — Dies at 87|last=Genzlinger|first=Neil|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 25, 2020|accessdate=February 25, 2020}}</ref> Their body of work also includes many other transit projects in the New York City metropolitan area as well as maps for major transit systems such as Houston, Texas, Washington, D.C., and other smaller transit systems throughout the United States.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
The New York City Subway map, which replaced a critically praised but publicly unpopular abstract design by Massimo Vignelli,<ref name= "rattled">{{cite news |last=Rawsthorn |first=Alice |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/arts/design/the-subway-map-that-rattled-new-yorkers.html |title=The Subway Map That Rattled New Yorkers |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 5, 2012 |accessdate=September 26, 2018}}</ref> was extremely popular because it represented one of the first attempts to combine the design sensibility of an abstract map with the comfortable, recognizable geography of a traditional map. While the cartography slightly resembles the real geography of New York City, it has been carefully and extensively manipulated to improve legibility in congested areas. Much of the design work was done by the fine artist and designer Nobu Siraisi, who worked for MHA during the period this map was under development.<ref name= "mapmakers">{{cite news |last=Haberman |first=Clyde |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/nyregion/15nyc.html |title=No W or Z? Mapmakers, Grab Your Pens |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 14, 2009 |accessdate=September 26, 2018}}</ref>
In addition to its transit system work, MHA has also produced a wide variety of maps and related designs for clients including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the United States Army Center of Military History, the New York City Law Department, and other clients in the business, non-profit and public sectors.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
The company has received many transit design awards, including The National Endowment for the Arts' Commendations for Design Excellence. Their work has appeared in a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition and an American Passenger Transport Association manual on excellence in transit system map design.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{NYCS const|map}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081006143858/http://www.ursasoft.com/maps/NewYork/newyork-governmental.htm Catalog of NYC subway maps since 1944] * [http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project_details.cfm?index=266&id=266&domain= 1972 NYC subway map by Vignelli] * [http://www.psta.net/Bus%20Schedules/PDF/PSTA%20System%20Map%202016.pdf Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority map] designed by MHA * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060901215202/http://www.offcampus.housing.umich.edu/files/MRide.pdf University of Michigan transit system map] designed by MHA
Category:Industrial design firms Category:Information graphic designers Category:Graphic design studios Category:Design companies of the United States