Exhibition Page
After I completed my book Underground Maps After Beck I began to focus more and more on designing actual maps myself. Determined to learn as much as possible about design and usability of maps, and how the choice of rules affects the design, I embarked upon a long and continuing journey. My designs can be placed into five rough categories.
- Digitisations Converting maps into high-resolution vector graphics, and typesetting them using modern fonts creates a whole host of questionable anachronisms BUT this is an excellent way of discovering how the original designs were implemented, and the outcomes are often revitalised designs, printable at any size, and free from the vagaries of early printing technology.
- Unimplemented Designs Many maps were never published but exist as drawings. The implementation of such designs has even more pitfalls than digitising published maps, but the benefits of being able to see a map in something like its intended form outweigh the costs. The map posters for sale at the London Transport Museum are good examples.
- Might Have Beens If history had been a little different, then different maps might have been the result. Once the techniques of the early designers are understood, anything is possible, such as today's Underground network in the topographical style of the 1920s.
- Experimental Maps Today's Underground map strictly adheres to the rules Henry Beck first used, and have been adopted worldwide. Broadly, horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree diagonal lines only. But how do we know that these are the best rules? There is only one way to find out: experiment.
- Pastiches What if an Art Nouveau-inspired designer had created an early Underground map, or Charles Rennie Mackintosh? Suppose the 1930s for the Underground had been an era of proper, lavish Art Deco rather than slightly stark modernism. We can only guess what the outcomes would have been, but we can try out some ideas.
Examples of all of these maps can be seen at my exhibitions ...
Underground Maps Unravelled
Explorations in Information Design
Since revolutionising map design in 1933, Henry Beck's iconic London Underground map has set the standard for the mapping of transport networks worldwide, replacing chaotic, twisting routes with straight lines, horizontal, vertical or diagonals at 45 degrees only. This exhibition explores the success of the Beck map and the rules that it adopted, and asks whether today's networks demand fresh approaches.
Roberts presents a collection of his own work: maps that break all the rules; maps that are easier to use; maps that teach us about good design; maps that challenge our preconceptions; and maps that are purely decorative. Whether you are a graphic designer, transport professional, or just a frustrated commuter or tourist, maps will never seem the same again.
... a really extraordinary exhibition ...
... inspired and mesmerising on several levels ...
... as works of art, they're ingenious ...
... I loved it ...
Martin Newell, East Anglian Daily Times, 11/09/10
Photographs by Peter Rodgers (left) and Peter Eades (right)
Photograph by Paul Monckton
Photographs by Roger Deeble
If you might be interested in hosting an exhibition, possibly along with guest lectures, email me at exhibitions@tubemapcentral.com
At exhibitions, posters, guides and catalogues are sold. Please enquire if you might be interested in purchasing any remaining items.
Last updated 07/01/11. All content on these web pages are © Maxwell J. Roberts, 2005-10. No reproduction without permission.
Click to get back to my home page