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 […]
<Image removed at request of Transport for London, December 20, 2019> Surprisingly, I haven’t seen anything like this on the Internet before, so I went and made my own. It’s been compiled from various sources (both official and unofficial), so the quality is a little variable, but it’s still fun to look at! I’ve made the dimensions of the circle/ring consistent across all the different versions, so the height and width of the crossbar shrinks […]
Here’s a little video primer about H.C. Beck’s famous Tube map, put together by the London Transport Museum’s Acton Depot. It’s a breezy little introduction to the most famous and influential transit diagram in the world, but it unfortunately repeats and perpetuates a couple of misconceptions about the map and Beck himself. (I’d expect a little better from the London Transport Museum!) At first, I even thought the initial statement that Beck was “out of work” […]
A lovely little black and white version of the Tube map at the front of a 1948 year diary. Drawn by H.C. Beck (see his name at the bottom left), it shows the central area of London only and is based off the 1946 version of the full map. By 1949, interchanges were being drawn with a white connector line between adjacent circles, rather than the separate circles seen here. Source: hollandfamilyarchives/Flickr
The inset central zone London Underground map is a black and white version of Beck’s diagram from the same year, but really, this is all about the fantastic illustrations (by Peter Roberson) and groovy mid-century graphic design. There’s only two colours used here – black and pink – but they’ve been used in a very striking and eye-catching way. I wonder what was on the reverse of this? Source: smallritual/Flickr
Although clearly based on the H.C. Beck diagram of the period (which was only five years old at the time), this diagram was created and printed entirely without Beck’s knowledge. Although the work is unsigned, it is now known that this map was designed by Hans Schleger – perhaps better known by his pseudonym “Zéró” – who had already created a number of memorable posters for London Transport. Beck was furious, and he wasted no […]
You just can’t beat 1930s London Underground posters – a superb mix of art, design and branding. This one’s a real beauty! Of interest is that it playfully echoes the look of Beck’s Tube Diagram, then only two years old. Design by O’Keeffe. Source: Mikey Ashworth/Flickr
