February 9th, 2009
DIY Opus Design
By Alanah Heffez // 4 Comments
This blog has questioned the decision to name Montreal's transit card after a cartoon penguin, but so far nobody's come right out and said that the Opus card is plain old ugly.
That is, until OpusLift.
"Personnellement, je la trouvais tellement laide (vous excuserez ma franchise), si peu représentative de Montréal et des montréalais que je n'ai pas résisté à l'envie d'infliger quelques modifications à la mienne," writes Melissa Nougier, a graphic designer who launched the website in January.
After the branding of Greater Montreal raised so much criticism in October, Nougier says, it seemed relevant to start a dialogue about implicating citizens in the city's defining aesthetic choices. She writes that, from a design perspective, the Opus card looked dated before it even hit the streets last year.
OpusLift provides a simple PDF template and invites people to create own design. Then they can print out the results and customize their transit card, as well as send their original creations to be posted on the website. One of the advantages of the Opus card is that you can literally glue just about anything to it without hampering the magnetic mechanism.
Visitors to OpusLift can also rate the submissions and Nougier says she's received inquiries from people who want to purchase the creations. She's currently contemplating whether to seek permission from the designers to make their creations public. She'd also be happy to collaborate with the STM but so far hasn't had any contact with the officials.
But perhaps DIY transit cards capture the creative spirit of Montreal better than a design competition ever could.
You can also visit the OpusLift facebook group for some ideas on how to put your "Opus lift" into practice.
Images: above: designs par Philippe, Suana, et anonyme. Below: the STM's Opus card design
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Comments
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What a great idea!
The arts organization that I work with, Well and Good, have approached the Toronto Transit Commission to encourage them to showcase local art on their metropasses to be more reflective of the diversity of the ridership (rather than the usual bus & train pictures of the TTC fleet).
But this DIY approach is the ultimate in individual expression.
Bravo.
C'est une idée géniale, pourquoi ne pas convaincre la STM d'encourager les artistes, on pourrait changer l'apparence de notre carte Opus en achetant un "cover" différent de temps à autre.
Une perte de temps et d'argent pour une carte qu'on garde dans son porte-feuille et qu'on sort une demi-seconde sans même y porter attention. Inutile.
An interesting concept, but one thing to keep in mind is that Opus is not an STM card, or even necessarily a Montreal regional card. It was designed to be work together with multiple transit authorities across Quebec (thus the concerted name, Opus). Guess I'll have to submit some non-Montreal-centric designs... =)
Comment by Tim
February 10, 2009 | 7:46 am