In the early 1960s, Boston’s public transportation system was expanded to follow the movement of people into the suburbs. Our solution was so simple as to be generic—but by design. In shortening the MBTA to simply a T, the idea was to make the design an immediate symbol for a transportation system that would be recognizable in the cityscape at a distance, legible at any size, and useable in many different forms.

Photograph courtesy of Anthony Shea