The ‘Harry Beck’ tube map is well known and loved by many for the way it reduces the chaotic London Underground system to a semblance of order. It’s not geographically accurate - the central ‘rectangle’ of the District and Circle Lines actually looks more like a doughnut that went badly wrong, and the Central Line to the east and District Line to the west aren’t anything like the straight lines that are shown on the map.
If you want a completely different idea of how the tube lines work, take a look at this amazing new map by Max Roberts. It’s much more feminine and much more exuberant than the official one - it makes me want to smile or even laugh with its friendly, energetic way of communicating.
Look at the way the stations are shown, too - they look like little fairy lights strung on a Christmas tree, instead of the deadpan rectangular tags of the official map.
Max’s site has more information on the London tube map, if you’re interested in learning more - including a geographically accurate map from the 1930s or 1940s that shows the parks and rivers as well as the railways, and gives you a really good feel for how London fits into the landscape of the Thames Valley.
Tags: cartography, London Underground, mapsShare This
