The London Underground Map

In 1931, Henery Beck designed the innovative, unique London Underground Map (also known as the Tube Map). It was innovative in the way that it was not a generic map, but rather a diagram using purely geometric forms, such as lines representing railway lines and tunnels. He designed the map so that everything went strait; horizontal, vertical or at a 45 degree angle, and the bends were minimal curves.

The typeface used in the London Underground Map was designed by Edward Johnston. It was created so it could be read in a busy atmosphere, and could transfer into small resolutions while still being readable. Johnston created this type in 1916 of the 20th century when Frank Pick commissioned him to created a typeface for the transport system. It wasn't until the 1930's that the typeface was chosen to be used in Beck's Map Design.

Edward Johnston's typeface revolutionized sans serif type, especially after Eric Gill was inspired to create his Gill Sans directly after Johnston's type. Both of these typefaces are still widely used today, and have influenced the creation of many other sans serifs.

The concept behind this map was to create a design that was simple, readable at a glance and to inspire a new way to interpret space. Often designs like maps and representations of surroundings were very literal, and Beck stepped out of the box to create something that was representative of the transport system, while bringing in the concept of space and time through modernism. It essentially cleared the path for designers to use simplification to enhance and get a message across in the most efficient and understandable way.

I enjoy this design as it is extremely simple to understand and follow. I could probably find my way through the undergrounds of London even though I've never been there! The use of colour separates different sections of the underground transport, and the fact that a very similar version of the map is still used today, I would say that the readability and understandability of the map is still pretty damn good for todays standards, making the original design ahead of its time.

Serious Coffee?

After "re-designing" the Serious Coffee logo, closely following the styles and the type of Jan Toorop's poster, Delftsche Slaolie, I realized that it looks very similar. This made me wonder, was the logo based off an Art Nouveau style to begin with? The flat style of the image was similar to many images during the Art Nouveau period, and the particular piece I chose to mimic had an almost identical typeface (however the Delftsche Slaolie poster's type was hand rendered and not a particular font). The E in the original logo has the same steep serifs that angle toward each other, the I has the flared serifs at the top and bottom, and overall the typeface is long and narrow as it is in the Nouveau example. Even the way the steam came out of the cup was similar to the style of hair an artist would give a woman.

On The dresses of the women in the Delftsche Slaolie poster the pattern has a faint line outlining the solid shapes within it. I tried to do the same with my beans. As for the steam coming out of the cup, I tried to enhance it to closer mimic hair. I believe both designs, Delftsche Slaolie and Serious Coffee have a diverse audience. I think the style plays more so off artistic taste rather than a particular age group. Modern, sophisticated and classical are some words that come to mind when I think of an audience.