Transit Maps: Gill Sans

All posts tagged: Gill Sans

Historical Map: Sydney Railway Layout, 1953

September 29, 2023

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Historical Maps

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1940, Australia, commuter rail, Gill Sans, HC Beck, heavy rail, NSW, Sydney

Unearthed on Twitter (It’ll always be Twitter to me, no matter what Elon says) by @crossing_lights, this is quite an extraordinary find. Long-time readers may have seen the 1939 version of this diagram (and the digital recreation that I made). Here’s the thing: the general consensus has always been that this was a one-off attempt at something in the style of H.C. Beck’s newfangled London Underground diagram. I seem to recall that one theory even […]

Historical Map: Green Line Coach Routes, London, 1949

February 26, 2021

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Historical Maps

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1949, bus, coach, England, Europe, Gill Sans, Green line, Green Line Coaches, London, London Transport, London Transport Board, typography, United Kingdom

Perhaps because of post-war austerity measures, this map was printed with just two inks – green and black – but still manages to do a lot of really good work. The radial nature of the Green Line network definitely makes things easier for the designer, as only a few of the routes really interact with others as they spread inexorably outwards from the map’s centre. The large route numbers at each terminus are great, as […]

Historical Map: Poster Promoting the Bakerloo Line Extension to Stanmore, 1939

March 4, 2016

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Advertising, Historical Maps

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1939, advertising, art, Bakerloo Line, Gill Sans, graphic design, Johnston Sans, London Underground, poster, typography

By the mid-1930s, the London Underground’s Metropolitan line was suffering from congestion caused by the limited capacity of its tracks between Baker Street and Finchley Road stations. To relieve this pressure, a tunnel was constructed between the Bakerloo line’s platforms at Baker Street and Finchley Road and three Metropolitan line stations (Lord’s, Marlborough Road and Swiss Cottage) were replaced with two new Bakerloo stations (St. John’s Wood and Swiss Cottage). The Bakerloo line took over […]

Reader Question: What’s Your Opinion of Pablo Impallari’s Cabin Font?

April 22, 2015