{"id":119847,"date":"2025-09-15T17:59:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T17:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/article.php?article_id=2137498"},"modified":"2025-09-15T17:59:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T17:59:47","slug":"a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/","title":{"rendered":"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\nI’ve been pretty interested in manhole covers for the last week or so. I read about them in the brilliant The 99% Invisible City<\/a> and since then, well, I’ve gone down the manhole, as it were.<\/p>\n

The 99% Invisible City talks about the Manhoru<\/em> movement – a Japanese trend for decorative manhole designs displaying “location-specific motifs” and everything from Hello Kitty to elements of folklore. Back in the eighties, the original impetus for this stuff was to raise awareness of subsurface utilities at a time when only half of Japanese households were connected to municipal sewers. Since then it has become a thing of joy and creativity in its own right.<\/p>\n

My sister was once very excited about a manhole cover in Canterbury that had a spelling mistake on it. But there is so much more to be intrigued by. Outside of Japan, I was fascinated to discover that the cross-hatching patterns a lot of manhole covers have is to aid traction. Yet that is just the start. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been pretty interested in manhole covers for the last week or so. I read about them in the brilliant The 99% Invisible City and since then, well, I’ve gone down the manhole, as it were. The 99% Invisible City talks about the Manhoru movement – a Japanese trend for decorative manhole designs displaying “location-specific motifs” and everything from Hello Kitty to elements of folklore. Back in the eighties, the original impetus for this stuff was to raise awareness of subsurface utilities at a time when only half of Japanese households were connected to municipal sewers. Since then it has become a thing of joy and creativity in its own right. My sister was once very excited about a manhole cover in Canterbury that had…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"\nA lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've been pretty interested in manhole covers for the last week or so. I read about them in the brilliant The 99% Invisible City and since then, well,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I've been pretty interested in manhole covers for the last week or so. I read about them in the brilliant The 99% Invisible City and since then, well,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-15T17:59:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"169\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-15T17:59:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":179,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/\",\"name\":\"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-15T17:59:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"I've been pretty interested in manhole covers for the last week or so. I read about them in the brilliant The 99% Invisible City and since then, well,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":169,\"caption\":\"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers | Arcader News","description":"I've been pretty interested in manhole covers for the last week or so. I read about them in the brilliant The 99% Invisible City and since then, well,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers | Arcader News","og_description":"I've been pretty interested in manhole covers for the last week or so. I read about them in the brilliant The 99% Invisible City and since then, well,","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2025-09-15T17:59:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":169,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers","datePublished":"2025-09-15T17:59:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/"},"wordCount":179,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg","articleSection":["Eurogamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/","name":"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-15T17:59:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"I've been pretty interested in manhole covers for the last week or so. I read about them in the brilliant The 99% Invisible City and since then, well,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers.jpg","width":300,"height":169,"caption":"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-lesson-in-beautiful-information-from-manhole-covers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A lesson in beautiful information, from manhole covers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1325235,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119847\/revisions\/1325235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}