Seoul's individual subway line maps get first redesign in 40 years

The redesigned Seoul Metro system map from 2023 / Courtesy of the Seoul Metropolitan Government

“Dear Korea, please fix your subway signage,” one person wrote on Reddit last month, apparently frustrated by how difficult Seoul’s subway system can be to navigate for those unfamiliar with it.

Now it’s not the overall map but the line maps undergoing an overhaul.

Seoul’s individual subway line maps have been redesigned for the first time in 40 years, aiming to make them more user-friendly and accessible compared to previous maps, including for non-Koreans and disabled individuals.

Seoul's new single-line subway maps for Line No. 2 / Courtesy of the Seoul Metropolitan Government

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on Wednesday that the new maps, designed to deliver information more clearly and accessibly, will be gradually rolled out starting in the second half of this year.

Since beginning operations in 1974, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway has expanded to 624 stations across 23 lines. Last year alone, Lines No. 1 through No. 8 operated approximately 1.6 million trips and transported around 2.4 billion passengers, according to the Seoul Metro Corporation.

The individual subway line maps are line-specific and displayed inside trains, on station platforms and on screen doors. They include station names in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese, as well as information on transfer options and station amenities.

“The new single-line map incorporates many of the features and lessons learned during the development of the full 2023 Seoul subway map redesign,” a city official told The Korea Times.

“At the time, we realized many foreigners unfamiliar with Korean place names relied on station numbers,” he said. “Based on that insight, the new maps place a strong emphasis on highlighting station numbers. Transfer stations were also redesigned to clearly show available transfer lines at a glance.”

The redesign also considered the needs of people with color vision deficiency.

Color values developed during the full subway map overhaul two years ago — designed to make complex lines and transfer stations easier to distinguish — have been applied to the new single-line maps.

At the time, the city government conducted tests and interviews with people with color vision deficiency to identify more accessible color schemes.

In these efforts to assist those who have difficulty reading subway maps, the fully redesigned 2023 Seoul subway map helped reduce the time to locate a station by up to 55 percent and cut transfer navigation time by as much as 69 percent, according to the city government.

This year’s redesign incorporates important geographic details, including the boundaries between Seoul and neighboring cities, the location of the Han River, and key transfer points.

The city government plans to create 14 unique pictograms for major tourist spots —including Seoul City Hall, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, and N Seoul Tower — to be featured on the new subway maps.

Related merchandise will also be produced to help tourists navigate the capital's top landmarks more easily while adding a fun visual touch.