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 London 

  underground secrets

   tube map

&

  Frank Pick

  • British transport administrator

  • He was chief executive officer and vice-chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board from its creation in 1933 until 1940

  • Pick prepared the transport plan for the mass evacuation of civilians from London at the outbreak of war and produced reports on the wartime use of canals and ports.

  • Strong interest in design and its use in public life

  •  Development of the London Underground's corporate identity by commissioning eye-catching commercial art, graphic design and modern architecture, establishing a highly recognisable brand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Before he took control of advertising, posters had been stuck up on any available surface on station buildings and platform walls in a crowded jumble of shapes and sizes that led to complaints from passengers that it was difficult to find the station name.

  • Pick standardised commercial poster sizes on printers' double crown sheets, arranging these in organised groups to enable the station name to be easily seen.

  • The Underground's own promotional posters were smaller, using single or paired double royal sheets, and were arranged separately from the commercial advertising.

  • To make the Underground Group's posters and signage more distinctive he commissioned calligrapher and typographer Edward Johnston to design a clear new typeface.

  • He wanted a typeface that would ensure that the Underground Group's posters would not be mistaken for advertisements; it should have "the bold simplicity of the authentic lettering of the finest periods" and belong "unmistakably to the twentieth century".

 

 

" Pick was aware that almost every attraction in London was within reach of the Underground, or at least could be marketed as such. Eye-catching posters enticed prospective travellers indirectly, by focussing on the destination rather than the mode of travel."

 

 

 

" The test of the goodness of a thing is its fitness for use. If it fails on this first test, no amount of ornamentation or finish will make it any better; it will only make it more expensive, more foolish.​"

Harry Beck

  • English draughtsman, not a designer design London Tube Map at the beginning of 20 century

  • London Tube map is considered to be one of the biggest modern artwork 

  • He worked on this map in his free time - it was his passion/ obsession, his life, he tried to improve it all the time

  • London Underground was initially sceptical of Beck's radical proposal, an uncommissioned spare-time project, but tentatively introduced it to the public in a small pamphlet in 1933. It was immediately popular, and the Underground has used topological maps to illustrate the network ever since.

  • The previous map was exact map - every station was spaced to geographical scale, interchanges were unclear, every line was represented by curve showing exact path and above-ground streets on top

  •  -> He ignored geography and scale -> his map replaced curves by straight lines - horizontal and vertical 45-degree angles, stations are equal distanced and he removed above-groud street grid

  • Lines seems to be closer to the center - reachable

  • His new idea for a map that was based upon the concept of an electrical schematic rather than a geographic map 

  • He got paid 5 guineas for his artwork and tiny name in the corner - v

  • 1945 version he considered as his masterpiece - thanks to its clarity

" FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION "

TASK:

Design piece of map in Harry Beck style

this is the current tube map of London (up) and mine map od Worcester (left)

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