A few weeks ago, I came across a site called Underground Signs selling replicas of the now-famous Massimo Vignelli-designed subway signs ubiquitous underneath the streets of New York. I figured the MTA’s intellectual property team would swiftly crack down on them, and a few weeks later, the agency contacted the site about some rights violations. This story, though, has a happy ending.
As CityRoom’s Jennifer 8. Lee reported yesterday, Trevor MacDermid and Michael De Zayas were granted a license to sell replica signs. The MTA will earn 10 percent of all signs, but the two can use all subway station names and the subway bullets as well. “This is going to be a win-win,” De Zayas said.
Signs run from $99 for a column-sized 12-incher to $400 for an eight-foot-long replica wall hanger. The two have put up a photogallery, and if anyone is looking for gift ideas for their subway-obsessed loved ones, Underground Signs is a great starting point.
6 comments
Hi there. we can’t wait to make some 2nd ave signs! with the T sign they’re going to look awesome. we were discussing making some to bring to stores in the UES, but anyone can have one at our site!
michael
underground-signs.com
Jeesh…looks like your blog has become the MTA’s unofficial internal research connection to the outside world.
Now if only politicians would start reading your blog…
How do you figure? I don’t think I had posted about Underground Signs before…
Whoops, I misread; thought you had posted on it after you mentioned a crackdown on “intellectual rights.” But Underground Signs got one detail wrong-they’re listing of stops with numbers in the name have the “th” even though official MTA station names leave out the “th,” “nd,” “st,” etc.
Looking at the prices underground signs is charging, one has to wonder why the revenue-strapped MTA isn’t selling these replicas themselves.