london underground map reinterpreted

  some reinterpretations of london’s iconic underground map

the london underground is 150 years old this week. on 9 january 1863 the subway service opened to the public and now the system transports over 1000 million passengers each year.

not only is the london underground one of the busiest public transport networks in the world, it’s also one of the most iconic, with a rich visual language that includes the infamous roundel logo and the diagrammatic map designed by harry beck in 1933.

to mark the anniversary of the ‘tube’ we’ve collected some playful reinterpretations of beck’s iconic design…

the original london underground map by harry beck (designed in 1933)today’s official tube maps are still largely based on this groundbreaking design.

the great bear’ by simon patterson, 1992patterson subverts the tube map replacing station names with groups of peoplefrom scientists, saints and philosophers to comedians, explorers and footballers.

biblical tube map by james eaglesfield

moral underground by the poke

geographically accurate tube map by mark noad

3d map by andy hudson-smith of the digital urban blog.

london underground and railyways map by zero per zero

chromatic diagram by francisco dans

twisted tube map by francisco dans

tube map of the milky way by samuel arbesman

animals on the underground by paul middlewick

hand drawn maps from memoryfor an exhibit at the museum of london, members of the public were asked to drawthe london underground map from memory – above are a selection of the results – more info here.

untitled artwork by david shrigley for the cover of the london underground pocket tube map, 2005

‘london underground circuit maps’ by yuri suzuki – more images here

poster for the tate gallery by david booth, 1986 more info here

tube map made from drinking straws by kyle bean

morethe guardian have a illustrated history of the london tube map here and you can visit the londonist for many more alternative designs.