• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Facttactic

Facttactic

Corporate and technical writers

  • Home
  • PR writing
  • Web writing
  • Technical writing
  • Comms management
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • About

no light at end of tunnel for design icon

November 27, 2009

One of the most famous communication tools of the last century may be on its way out. Not because it has been overtaken by anything better but because progress has made it too small to hold all the information officials say it requires.

The London tube map was created in 1931 by Harry Beck, a London Underground draughtsman. It turned a clumsy geographic map into a circuit diagram and quickly become an instantly recognised symbol not just for the underground trains but for London itself and, for many visitors, the frisson of  a visit to one of the world’s great cities (Circle Line pub crawl, anyone!). Nearly 70 years on, it is still as relevant and vital as the day Beck drew it.

With a design that millions of people stare at every day but that few might stop to think about, the simplicity and beauty of the map has made it a pin-up star for all technical communicators!

Click here for a look at a pictorial history of the London Underground map.

London Underground original map 1931
London Underground original map 1931 (image from the Guardian -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/nov/26/london-tube-map-design)

Filed Under: Technical writing Tagged With: Design, Technical writing

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. the one-page guide to London | Facttactic's online journal says:
    December 2, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    […] week we talked about one of the icons of modern technical communication design — the London tube map — and how its simplicity and readability was key to its success. Thanks to a reader for this […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Facttactic’s Blog

  • innovative online training for Māori journalists
  • how to easily move a WordPress website to a new web host
  • the need for website speed
  • benefits of online user guides
  • new resource for Māori writers
  • great deal for e-commerce websites
  • the Auckland and all-over technical writer
  • not enough small businesses online!
  • technical-writer.co.nz
  • microsoft’s writing style guide is now free and online
  • wamp up your website
  • style guide for online content



website by mighty atom