Over at AIGA’s site, calligrapher and typographer Paul Shaw has an awesome nine-page article about the long history of unified wayfinding design in the New York City Subway.

There is a commonly held belief that Helvetica is the signage typeface of the New York City subway system, a belief reinforced by Helvetica, Gary Hustwit’s popular 2007 documentary about the typeface. But it is not true—or rather, it is only somewhat true. Helvetica is the official typeface of the MTA today, but it was not the typeface specified by Unimark International when it created a new signage system at the end of the 1960s. Why was Helvetica not chosen originally? What was chosen in its place? Why is Helvetica used now, and when did the changeover occur?

These are questions that only an actual designer, or someone who is a HUGE NERD, wants answered. He looks at the origins of NYC Subway wayfinding, as well as the modern design’s origins in Milan and (ugh) Boston, and along the way shatters the old “Massimo Vignelli created this identity with his bare hands” myth.

Vignelli still kicks a lot of ass, though. [article via Design Observer]