This week, the
@mta will make the final transition to its tap-and-ride transit payment system, OMNY, replacing the beloved (by some) Metrocard. Back in 2018, our team at
@pentagramdesign helped come up with the name (an acronym for One Metro New York) and a visual language based on Vignelli and Noorda’s 1968 subway signage starring a custom inline version of Neue Haas Grotesk. It’s still one of the projects I’m most proud of.
Working with the brilliant Audrey Francis at
@elasticstrategy , we had considered dozens of names before landing on OMNY. My secret favorite, though, was a different one: Pretzel. I thought it had attitude and local flavor, evoking both the subway’s crazy tangle and the city’s most ubiquitous street food. I think I even slipped an image of my favorite Steely Dan album into a presentation. Alas, despite
@cobb.co ’s brilliant design work, cooler heads (led by the heroic Sarah Meyer) prevailed, and OMNY pulled into the station.
I hardly ever show rejected design proposals, but this one will always have a place in my heart.
