5/2/2023 0 Comments Map of the tube in london![]() ![]() The beauty of the orthogonal London Underground map is that it provides exactly the information the rider needs - the name of the line (with color coding), the direction of travel (East, West, North or South - the same way that the directions to the platforms are given), and the stops on the way. The map makes 3 significant design compromises: substantial geographic distortion, a complex color code for identification, and, in small sizes, it is difficult to read. ![]() Garland's book is also a model for writing histories of great information designs. The book describes the enormous care, craft, thought, and hard work of Harry Beck that went on for decades-exactly what it takes to do great information design and so in contrast to the quick-and-dirty practices and thinking of commercial art. There is a fine book on the map: Ken Garland, Mr Beck's Underground Map (Capital Transport Publishing 1994). Both, however, exemplify the deep principles of information design in operation, as well as the craft and passion behind great information displays. They do not serve, then, as good practical generic architectures for design indeed, revisions and knock-offs have usually been corruptions or parodies of the originals. The Underground Map and Napoleon's March are perfectly attuned to their particular data, so focused on their data sets. The Underground Map and Minard's famous Carte Figurative of the French Army's disaster in Russia in the war of 1812 are alike in important respects: both are brilliant, and neither travels well. Later European and American knock-offs did not succeed at all. Despite 70 years of revision due to extensions of the Underground and bureaucratic tinkering (the marketing department wrecked the map for several years), the map nicely survives to this day. ![]() For apparently quite a number of people, the map organized London (rather than London organizing the map). With excellent color printing, classic British railroad typography (by Edward Johnson), and, in the modern style, only horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree lines, the map became a beautiful organizing image of London. Harry Beck's diagram of the 7+ lines of the London Underground, although geographically inaccurate, provides a coherent overview of a complex system. ![]()
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