London Underground Poster

close-up of the underground map

Originally I was going to do show and tell on a pair of my dad's old Vans slip on shoes. However, i think they were thrown away in the process of moving to the house I am living in now. Although the shoes were thrown away, I think I came up with a show and tell piece that might be better yet. In our class we recently discussed The London Underground system, and how it changed design in the world. Well I saw it appropriate to ask my parents, seeing how they are british, if they had anything to do with The London Underground. Sure enough my parents had something perfect for my blog post, a London Underground Poster straight from London, England. Although the posters have changed dramatically since Harry Beck designed the original in 1931, this is actually a design very close to the vintage underground map from the 30's. This poster is a reproduction of a vintage poster, made to look old, but my parents bought it brand new while we were in England. Finding a poster like this in London isn't very hard to do, so I don't think it has, if any, value at all. While on the London Underground when I was in England last summer, I did notice that traveling on the london underground was extremely simple, much to do with how this poster is designed. I don't think you could make it any more simple. The subway systems around the world, for example in NYC have copied the design of the underground map, however I think the subway system in NYC is still not as simple as London. While doing this poster I did remember some things that I learned while riding the underground, in London they call The London Underground, "The Tube", and if you live in London and ride the tube everyday, the saying "Mind the Gap" would get extremely annoying. But that's just me.

The London Underground Map aka "The Tube"

close-up of the logo