All posts tagged: London Underground

Advertisement: “Double Diamond” Beer Featuring the London Tube Map (c. late 1970s?)

April 8, 2015
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More proof of just how ingrained the Tube Map is in the English psyche is evident in this billboard advertisement for Double Diamond beer – inserted as the punchline in the long-running “Only here for the beer!” campaign.  The ad campaign itself is almost as much as part of England as the Tube Map; the tag line has entered into the vernacular, much like “Where’s the beef?” in the U.S., and “Not happy, Jan!” in […]

Photo: Layer Upon Layer of Tube Map, 2008

March 25, 2015
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Great photo of a old and weather-worn Tube Map, taken at White City tube station. If you look closely, you can see that more than one layer of map is visible in certain sections, giving sort of an archaeological cross-section of different eras (See the doubled-up interchange station symbols at Euston for a good example). The most visible map seems to date from the early 1970s as it shows the Highbury branch of the Northern […]

Historical Map: ACTUAL H.C. Beck Greater London Tube/Rail Map, 1938

February 26, 2015
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Thanks to Robert McConnell, who let me know that the map I featured in my last post is actually a modern digital map made by none other than Maxwell Roberts. Roberts states that he based his version of the map off one that Beck produced, unsolicited, in 1938 and that a copy of this version is in Ken Garland’s excellent book, “Mr. Beck’s Underground Map”. I own a copy of this book, so was a […]

Historical Map: Beck-style Greater London Tube/Rail Map (c. 1940s?)

February 25, 2015
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Here’s something via Chris Applegate on Flickr, where Chris says: Finally put up and framed the gorgeous vintage Tube map I won in a competition yonks ago. It is gorgeous, but it’s not just a Tube map, nor is it anything I’ve ever actually seen before.  It appears to be a Greater London Tube Map/main line railway diagram produced in a Beck-like style – a precursor to this 1988 “London Connections” map (May 2013, 3 stars) […]

Reader Question: Which of Beck’s London Underground Maps Do You Prefer?

February 17, 2015
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Question: Which of Beck’s maps of the London Underground do you most prefer, and what properties does it have that elevate it above the others in your opinion as a designer? Answer: My absolute favourite Beck-drawn Tube Map is actually his unpublished 1961 Victoria Line proposal, which I wrote about in this post back in 2012. Go take a look at it – it’s simply gorgeous, with an arrow-straight lavender Victoria Line cutting directly across […]

My Journey on the London Underground by Tom Davies, Age 6

November 20, 2014
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If you ever wonder just how much the Tube Map is ingrained into British culture, then I think we have the answer here: drawn (and drawn well) by a six year old, complete with National Rail interchange icons. Fantastic! This is my representation of the London Underground map (which I am very interested in) and shows the journey from my house to my Daddy’s work near Waterloo (identified by the star – which is unfortunately […]

Royal Mail “Design Icons” Stamps (2009)

October 1, 2014
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Reblogged because of the inclusion of the London Underground Diagram, but the other stamps are also representative of the best of British design and are worth a look as well. In a way, it’s more than a little disappointing that the Tube Map shown is the modern TfL version, and not Beck’s original from 1933, especially as everything else reflects the “classic” original version of the product. It’s the same as if they’d decided to […]

Historical Map: 1985 “London Connections” Map Uncovered at Embankment Station

September 18, 2014
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Great photos of this fantastic old map, discovered in place (presumably during the Bakerloo/Northern Line station refurbishment works) and now protected in situ by some rather ugly chicken wire. Note that the loop at the western end of the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow Terminal 4 is still under construction, which had been completed by the time this version of the map (May 2013, 3 stars) came out in 1988. Source: jaggers/Flickr – links no longer […]

Fantasy Map: London Tube Teleporter

September 3, 2014
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Absolutely brilliant. Repurposing the Underground roundel as a selector dial for destinations is hilarious, as is the fact that you can only use a Visa card (the only credit card accepted at the Olympic Games). Apart from Lord’s, I’m not sure I think that much of the destinations available, though… Source: John Gulliver/Flickr