Located: essays > the underground map

London Underground map: what

Contents: who | what | where | when | how | why

Click to enlarge
The London Underground Map (or Journey Planner as it is now called) is a representational diagram of 270 stations and 400 kilometres of tracks which make up the London Underground (Bayman, Connor, 1994). Nearly 2.5 million Londoners and visitors make trips on the Underground each day, and the map is one of the most recogniseable pieces of graphic design in the city.

It is a colour-coded diagram which represents connecting stations and tracks through a series of geometric lines and dots. The diagram doesn't literally represent the transport system - topography is given little consideration - but simply allows travelers to plot a path between one station and another by using connections and track codes.

Is an important piece of design - not only because its key attributes have been adopted by most train transport system in the world (Bayman, Connor, 1994), but because it represents a clarity and simplicity which provide a benchmark for communicating information through graphic design (Tann, 2000).
 

Essays

Satisfying site design: web site navigation and its relationship to creating a satisfying user experience (May 2000).

London Underground Map: a look at Harry Beck's famous map as an information design icon (March 2000).

 

 

 

   
    Contact me   Doug Green © 2000 - site last updated 7 October 2000