Vectordesigns UG is a company (Unternehmensgesellschaft) based in Munich, Germany.
Vectordesigns creates products for urban mobility.
First founded as a company in Malaysia, it produced integrated public transport maps and guides, as well as provided contract design and publishing services.
Having now relocated to Munich, Germany, Vectordesigns has turned its creative desires to producing the hipi protective phone belt.
public transport information
Given Vectordesigns’ interest in public transport mapping, we offered Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (KL City Hall)’s Urban Transport Department to design for it an integrated public transport map of KL city centre. They kindly commissioned us and the result was 2005’s Peta Tren & Bas Kuala Lumpur print map brochure.
The first project commissioned by KL City Hall’s Urban Transport department. this 8-page ‘Peta Tren & Bas Kuala Lumpur’ booklet featured to-scale train and bus routes within the Kuala Lumpur city centre, with zoom-in maps of different areas, featured train stations and bus routes.
There was also a schematic public transport overview of Kuala Lumpur and surrounding suburbs. 10,000 copies were distributed for free via the various train and bus operators.
In 2007, Vectordesigns was commissioned by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad to provide 30 Klang Valley public transport maps for KTM’s train stations. They were based on an initial design for bus stop maps, as commissioned by City Hall’s Urban Transport Department.
They were intended to guide commuters on continuing their journeys should they then need to hop on to a bus or another train line after getting off the Komuter train.
Its area coverage stretched from Selayang in the north to Balakong in the south, and from Ampang in the west all the way westward to Subang Jaya. Apart from route information, bus fares, operating hours and frequencies are clearly stated on top of each map. These large format maps were printed to withstand outdoor conditions within train stations.
These maps were based on an initial design for bus stop maps, as commissioned by City Hall‘s Urban Transport Department.
This was followed by our retail product, the bastrenKL integrated public transport map, which was published in December 2007.
At the same time, we created a public transport interest website for users at http://transit.vectordesigns.org, which has now been archived at www.hipibelt.com/transit
This Geographic Information System (GIS) database crucially informed the end result maps which we produced. It has data on all the various train and bus routes available in the Klang Valley, including roads and landmarks traveresed.
This data was also utilised by research organisations such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Transit Research Group and Transport Roundtable Australasia Pty. Ltd.
Contract publishing
Vectordesigns also designed and produced maps and guides for companies and organisations.
In 2006, Vectordesigns was also commissioned to lay out and print Amnesty International Malaysia‘s ‘Menjayakan Hak kepada Kenyataan – Bengkel Kesedaran Gender’ Primer.
Initially designed for AI’s global headquarters, this 76-page handbook is a training handbook comprising 3 modules, each with several interesting activities and games with the aim of enhancing the participants understanding on gender awareness.
Vectordesigns laid the handbook out again with its text in Bahasa Malaysia, also adding localized images and graphics.
The handbook was launched by Josef Roy Benedict, Executive Director of AI Malaysia, in Shah’s Village Hotel, Petaling Jaya on March 3rd, 2007, and subsequently distributed to various civil society organizations as a stimulus to greater gender awareness training.
Among the present included Sonia Randhawa of Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), Madam Tay from Women’s Development Collective (WDC), Fuziah Salleh from the women’s wing of the People’s Justice Party, as well as representatives of other organizations.
This was a primer on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) prepared by Amnesty International (AI). Persatuan Penterjemah Malaysia was commissioned by Amnesty International Malaysia to translate it into Bahasa Malaysia.
Vectordesigns laid out the Malaysian version, while maintaining its original feel and look. The main chapters touched on the introduction of ESCR, responsibilities under international law, identifying the infringements of ESCR, as well as ways to defend ESCR. The primer will be launched by AI Malaysia later this year.
about Vectordesigns
Vectordesigns was set up by Chee Su Lin in 2005, when she felt that bringing together all KL public transport information was a fulfilling and worthy challenge. In that time, it has succeeded in its main objective – of providing the city of Kuala Lumpur with integrated public transport maps.
Vectordesigns was based in Bangsar Utama, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Date incorporated: 27 January 2005
Malaysian Business Registration . (SSM) No: 001532548-U
M’sian Ministry of Finance (MOF) Reg. No.: 357-02065418
“Around the early 2000s, I thought I’d seen a hole in the market,” says Chee. “New public transport infrastructure had been put into place – the LRTs and Monorail mainly – but a car driver like myself wouldn’t have had a clue on how to start using it. The thought of a walking lifestyle within a compact urban landscape was beguiling. It was one that was free of cars, parking, etc, and that was fully immersed in society rather than isolated in bubbles, as those fat future people were in Wall-E.”
“Also, I knew people, friends visiting, maids, who didn’t have cars. I thought this would provide them some independence in moving around. Of course, there was also the environmental argument, and the pure challenge of bringing together disparate information to make of it a beautiful system.”
Thankfully there are some people who believe enough in the social benefits of public transport to give an iota of thought to it, well actually, a lot of thought and effort. I’m talking about the people who set up http://transitmy.org, and also KL Commuter although he/she hasn’t been active recently as I know it. If you are a public transport user, do support them because we can only be stronger together.
Unfortunately I can’t because, from mid 2008, I moved to London to be with my husband (as intimated in the title of this text). Nevertheless, after all the effort put into gathering this information, I would still like maintain and update this information as much as possible. Hopefully it may contribute to improved public transport services and a more mobile, accessible, integrated and healthier Kuala Lumpur.
There have been several who have helped out along the way and contributed to the work that you see on the other pages. Credit goes out to:
| photography | jitspics.deviantart.com |
| graphic design consultancy | Red Komet |
| Transit site content management system | Lim Gwo Shin |
| routes research | Lim Gwo Shin |
| routes research | Ibrahim & Kechik |
| graphic design | Lim Gwo Shin |
| graphic design | Wong Ding Xiang |
| graphic design | Mohd Akhbar Bebek |
| graphic design | Ili Farhana |
| bastrenKL sales | Lim Gwo Shin |
| website design | Wong Ding Xiang |
| GIS routes database | Saiful Azhar |
| bastrenKL illustrations | Melissa Lin |
| bastrenKL text translation | Rahmat Haron |
| web-based interactive bus map | Saiful Azfar |
| business consultancy | Frames Production Malaysia |
Of course, very much acknowledged as well as the great people who represent our clients and sponsors — Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Tourism Malaysia, ITS Konsortium Sdn Bhd, Amnesty International Malaysia, Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) Berhad, CH William Talhar and Wong, Karangkraf — as well as the various individuals in the public transport operators who have been very helpful — RapidKL, KL Monorail, Metrobus, Selangor Bus, Transnasional, Uptownace, SJ Bus, Sri Indah, Len Seng (now no more operating) and Triton (now no more operating).
Also, thanks for www.malaysiagis.com for their advice in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).