CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY BRAND REFRESH
Project Brief
For my senior capstone, I wanted to create something for an industry that I could see myself working in after graduation. Having lived in Chicago for most of my life, I have used the city’s public transit frequently, but noticed a decline in quality post-COVID. Although the city has trying to boost ridership back to pre-COVID levels, I noticed some large gaps in transit coverage, information design and little to no branding updates in decades.
I wanted to update Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)’s brand to value friendliness, reliability, and sustainability. I proposed to update:
Research
I spent time examining some of the problems that Chicago residents face when attempting to use the CTA. I saw that the portions of the Northwest, West, and Southwest sides (including myself!) lack any railway coverage by CTA proper, leaving many of residents dependent on ride-sharing services or having to take 40-minute bus rides to the nearest train station.
Another major frustration with CTA’s “L” system is the difficulty in transferring lines without needing to travel to the Loop. Chicago has long been overdue for a new rail line, with the most recent addition being the Pink Line in 2006.
Knowing this information, I decided to create the Navy Line, which would address the gaps in transit coverage and allowing for ease-of-transfer to existing train lines plus adjacent Metra stations.
Railway Map
Train Booklet
Transit Cards
Exhibit
Takeaways
This project was very bittersweet for me since it was my final major design project in university, and I was given the space to educate museum-goers on public transit, which I hold very dear to my heart. The Chicago Transit Authority is currently planning for massive service cuts for 2026 and possibly beyond due to the lack of allocated state funding, which would leave almost 20% of the Chicagoland area stranded without access to transit.
I am a strong believer in making public transportation accessible throughout the United States. I benefitted so much from having reliable access to the buses and trains when I was in high school. Although visual design can’t directly fix budget cuts, I wanted to both Chicago and non-Chicago residents a vision for what our city’s railways could look like if the state of Illinois invested in the CTA.