The San Francisco International Airport

The San Francisco International Airport has an oddly shaped structure, and coupled with the system of trains that arrive directly to the airport, it can be hard to navigate this intricate building. The use of maps is particularly important here because of this, and since people typically are in a hurry or may be unfamiliar with the space, they need to be able to quickly and efficiently make their way through the airport and make their flights. A number of design principles are employed to make this happen.

The first apparent principle is that of Ockham’s Razor, which essentially aims to avoid unnecessary information and elements that decrease the design’s efficiency. This map employs this design by simplifying all areas external to the airport. For example, the freeways are shown on the map as a means of getting to the airport, but they are grayed out and do not show all of the little twists and turns you have to take to get to the terminal you need. Another great example is that of the Rental Car Center, the blue box in the top left corner. This is just their to symbolize the location of the center, not necessarily the shape of the building or anything.

The second principle, as demonstrated by the image to the left, is that of Archetypes.

Archetypes are learned conventions from our cultures, this map shows the Caltrain and BART logos and therefore plays on the common knowledge of people local to the area who understand that these logos indicate the train routes that lead to and away from the SFO airport.

The third and final principle I will speak to is that of Color. The colors used in this map clearly define the distinct areas in the airport, the international versus the national terminals, the different train routes for getting around easily, and the parking areas.