Once upon a time, London’s tube map looked like, well, a map, with street names and geographical accuracy and all that jazz. But then, a young draughtsman named Harry Beck realised that, when you’re underground, geography doesn’t matter: all you need to know is the order of the stations and where the lines connect. So he redesigned the map using straight lines and even spacing, thus making it both prettier and more comprehensible. Every other rail network in the world copied him and the rest is history.
This story is one with which anyone interested in London, its transport or the principles of graphic design will be familiar. It is, however, one that Transport for London seems to have forgotten, because the modern tube map is messy, confusing and getting worse.
