Tony Coppoletta

@tonycoppoletta

Likes food. And trains. And cities. Info designer in transit. Made in Chicago. (Personal acct) tonycoppoletta.com Also super pro-trans and anti-facisct because I'm a decent human being. He/him 🏳️‍🌈

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Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· 15d

So many cult-classic vibes in this moment.

A glowing, wide-eyed Mr. Burns from an earlier Simpsons episode where he is thought to be a terrifying green alien who says "I bring you love" but he's just messed up and radioactive. Also looks a lot like Mitch McConnell in green light, looking creepy but benevolent, but actually being an extremely evil, plotting person who harms people without remorse.

A magnet someone designed showing the terrifying green algae/seaweed-flecked creature Old Gregg from The Mighty Boosh asking if you love him. Actually kinda benign, but super ick.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Jul 5

"Only in New York" they always say. 🙄 Who're you gonna call? 🤷‍♂️

Pink sprites over Wrigley Field in Chicago

Pink sprites over midtown Manhattan in New York

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· May 29

Controversial question: Worst buildings in Chicago? (Submissions of brutalism will be summarily dismissed.) I'll start.

A probably-condo building in the West Loop that got as finished as the main structure and incredibly stupid horse statues on the roof before the 2008 economic/real estate crash and sat abandoned for like ten years.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Apr 20

The sign on a Berlin U-Bahn station, track-side wall, that says "Rosenthaler Platz" (my best attempt at pronunciation, "HhhrrROsen tah-leh plAHts").

The orange tiles are actually colored as they are and slightly radioactive in the 2-5cm range due to a uranium glaze, not dissimilar from other things (like ceramic dinnerware) of the era also having been made with this element before it fell out of favor, for reasons.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Apr 12

Tonight I had the strange urge to have Ritz crackers with some duck patê and then thought "I don't have cornichons but I /do/ have pickle dip. So I guess I invented upper Midwest charcuterie tonight. 🤷‍♂️

Plucky pickle dip, a packet of Ritz crackers and a half-eaten trapezoid of "mousse de foie de canard au porto" (pork and duck liver mousse).

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Apr 6

Also if I'm fortunate enough to be on long haul flight, I take meticulous care to make my main cabin meal extra fancy looking and get a cute picture of it because I like to pretend I'm on PanAm in the 70s or something.

Very neatly zhooshed-up premium economy long-haul meal.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Apr 6

Is true. Here are some ridiculously luscuous things I'm very fortunate to be able to have consumed from a recent visit to see friends in London.

Brown bread, butter and beer (plus something else I forget).

A perfectly silky yolk in a black pudding Scotch egg at a pub in East London.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Mar 12

Dress for the regional rail service you want.

Socks that match the seat pattern (moquette) on London's Elizabeth Line service.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Feb 21

Gm, marine layer

An image looking out over Chicago's pre-dawn skyline from Uptown, with orange hues fading into space and a layer of grey cloud above the seemingly endless water of Lake Michigan.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Feb 15

Weird. What *is* going on? I've seen low quality air on my little Nest screen a few times this winter but like... Are we having fires somewhere?

A screenshot from Accuweather showing air quality. It's between poor and unhealthy around Lake Michigan (all adjacent states, like Wisconsin) and across southern Michigan and northern Illinois, and pushing east around the lake system into Toronto. There are also hotspots in the northeast like eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and NYC, as well as a mass of poor air in the southeast including western Tennessee, Alabama, and presumably into Georgia (covered by the legend).

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Feb 13

So, they spun around the southeast side before coming up here and I was just looking it up myself. Almost wonder if it's a training mission, since it spun around multiple areas rather than beelining somewhere? But here is the apparent origin:

A FlightRadar24 map showing an unidentifiable helicopter hovering around Uptown/Edgewater/Lakeview after coming from west of the river, past downtown, over the Dan Ryan and Skyway and then spinning loops around South Shore and South Chicago neighborhoods, after starting from a site just south of the Calumet River.

Origin site appears, per Google Maps, the Chicago Police and Cook County Helicopter Task Force.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Feb 12

We’ve also done something similar with bus stop signs, creating a hierarchy of information that’s consistent across all signs—instead of a blend of plain text wherever it fit, new bus stop signs follow this order: route badge, route name, direction, general span of service and then map.

A modern 65 Grand bus stop sign with the information hierarchy of route identification, direction, span of service and map.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Feb 12

New station signs, which often used long English text only. In the past several years, starting w/my predecessor, Graham Garfield, we’ve worked to simplify text/use pictograms to help readability. We've also implemented a bright "Out" patch to for when you step off a train to find the nearest exit.

A sign at an auxiliary, rotogate exit direct to Clark St at Clark/Lake. It features negative space, the bright "Out" patch, the proper noun "Clark St" and pictograms to indicate no bikes, strollers or heavy luggage as it's a "narrow exit" (also noted in text).

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Feb 12

I’ve been meaning for a while to talk about this... I’m proud that with my team at work that we’ve been working to simplify signage for accessibility and internationalization, including using fewer, simpler terms, applying a predictable information hierarchy and using pictograms where possible.

A simplified exit sign at a new RPM station (Argyle), that uses plenty of negative space to make the sign more readable without breaking stride, featuring the bright "Out" patch, and the simplest possible text for readability and internationalization: "Argyle St, north side" and a pictogram of a bus (language agnostic) and the word "Buses" for those who can't perceive pictograms.

A modern-style 92 Foster bus stop sign that has information in a consistent hierarchy that's being applied all bus stop signs we produce today (route number and name, direction and destination and span of service, then a map if it is able to fit--typically on single-route signs).

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Jan 23

Güten Abend, Chicago

A view of the skyline glowing on a clear night from Uptown

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Jan 12

Güten Morgen

A spectrum of sky, dotted with towers, from blue to red as dawn forms over Chicago's lakefront.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Jan 9

In not-terrible news today I've been sort of redecorating my flat and made this derivative mid-century modern art as I lean into that as a style. Sure, I pay for a personal Adobe license, but the print and frame probably cost me $20.

A series of odd shapes and warm colors with some stripes across it and a grainy watercolor on rough paper effect applied. It's hung above a bookshelf with a cylindrical lamp, some shiny objects and a boxy 60s-looking clock.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Dec 19

Sometimes if you wave at just the right time, they'll toot-toot at you!

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Dec 11

Now I want lamb. I think I have some in my drop-in freezer. Def happening tomorrow if so. lol That said, this curried lamb with pomegranate arils is also one of my favorite things in the universe, from Dishoom, in London (closest to me in this pic). Highly recommended if you can find a recipe!

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Dec 11

Oh that shouldn't be so hard to find! Wild. There's always that dark little jar somewhere with the bright green dye, no? That said, I just got some mint jelly by my friend Dawn in London and it's incredible. I buy a jar of that and like 15 other things every year when I visit friends. So good.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Dec 8

Why is it that every time I open this app it destroys my mood? Here is a picture of my grandma's mid-century modern china in a hutch I just bought from Wayfair so it's not in storage anymore that makes me happy.

Porcelain china mugs, plates and bowls with sparks of blue and grey

The china hutch before I decided the glassware for drinks should be in the hutch because the other thing, found in an alley, couldn't fit the serving platter.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Nov 30

Just gonna readily admit I sometimes take inspiration in my professoonal art from London in the most cheeky ways.

A Ventra Pride Card with neon ad text and a sparkling disco ball (though with triangular mirror tiles and Chicago star-based sparkles).

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Nov 27

And even more.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Nov 27

Oh I didn't realize I could only do four. Here are more.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Nov 27

A bit of Berlin station name signs (in their many tile-surrounded typefaces).

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Nov 20

As per tradition, London, I have a prawn and mayo sandwich and cloudy apple juice for the Lizzy Line ride in and have dressed properly for the occasion of my arrival in you.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Nov 1

Transit is freedom. Transit makes Chicago great. It is for everyone and it is beautiful. 32 years ago today I boarded at this spot on the Pulaski Orange Line platform with my legally blind mom to help her learn her new, faster way to work on its first weekday. 'L'ove at first ride.

An evening photo of the Loop-bound platform at Pulaski Orange, just south of the south heat shelter.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Oct 3

Got a gorgeous night shot of a train going overhead at Schiller (which used to have a stop here!) on the Brown Line with, though no longer the outside tracks in use, the four-track infrastructure they originally built from Wilson to Chicago before heading with two tracks into the Loop 'L' in 1900.

The blur of an elevated train on a long-exposure shot with the Sears tower in the distance between the in-use and disused trackless outside track infrastructure at Schiller near Sedgwick.

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Sep 30

I love when one of my favorite people on the Internet—like patron saint level—surprise me by wearing a T-shirt with the logo I'm responsible for making sure we use right! @techconnectify.bsky.social

Tony Coppoletta@tonycoppoletta· Sep 27

When you're lucky enough, you find yourself sitting on a pier after a warm and lovely night with family, in silence except the water lapping on the shore, reflecting on your life, your experiences and knowing all those things make you you—a beautiful little spark in this unimaginably large universe.