The genius of the London Tube Map
-
0:00 - 0:04The history of civilization,
in some ways, is a history of maps: -
0:04 - 0:07How have we come to understand
the world around us? -
0:07 - 0:11One of the most famous maps works
because it really isn't a map at all. -
0:11 - 0:14[Small thing. Big idea.]
-
0:15 - 0:17[Michael Bierut on
the London Tube Map] -
0:18 - 0:21The London Underground
came together in 1908, -
0:21 - 0:23when eight different
independent railways merged -
0:23 - 0:25to create a single system.
-
0:25 - 0:27They needed a map to represent that system
-
0:27 - 0:29so people would know where to ride.
-
0:29 - 0:32The map they made is complicated.
-
0:32 - 0:35You can see rivers,
bodies of water, trees and parks -- -
0:35 - 0:38the stations were all crammed together
at the center of the map, -
0:38 - 0:42and out in the periphery, there were some
that couldn't even fit on the map. -
0:42 - 0:46So the map was geographically accurate,
but maybe not so useful. -
0:46 - 0:47Enter Harry Beck.
-
0:48 - 0:51Harry Beck was a 29-year-old
engineering draftsman -
0:51 - 0:54who had been working on and off
for the London Underground. -
0:54 - 0:55And he had a key insight,
-
0:55 - 0:59and that was that people
riding underground in trains -
0:59 - 1:02don't really care
what's happening aboveground. -
1:02 - 1:04They just want to get
from station to station -- -
1:04 - 1:06"Where do I get on? Where do I get off?"
-
1:06 - 1:09It's the system that's important,
not the geography. -
1:09 - 1:12He's taken this complicated
mess of spaghetti, -
1:12 - 1:13and he's simplified it.
-
1:14 - 1:16The lines only go in three directions:
-
1:16 - 1:19they're horizontal, they're vertical,
or they're 45 degrees. -
1:19 - 1:22Likewise, he spaced the stations equally,
-
1:22 - 1:26he's made every station color
correspond to the color of the line, -
1:26 - 1:30and he's fixed it all
so that it's not really a map anymore. -
1:30 - 1:32What it is is a diagram,
-
1:32 - 1:33just like circuitry,
-
1:33 - 1:37except the circuitry here
isn't wires conducting electrons, -
1:37 - 1:41it's tubes containing trains
conducting people from place to place. -
1:42 - 1:47In 1933, the Underground decided, at last,
to give Harry Beck's map a try. -
1:47 - 1:51The Underground did a test run
of a thousand of these maps, pocket-size. -
1:51 - 1:52They were gone in one hour.
-
1:52 - 1:54They realized they were onto something,
-
1:54 - 1:56they printed 750,000 more,
-
1:56 - 1:59and this is the map that you see today.
-
1:59 - 2:01Beck's design really became the template
-
2:01 - 2:04for the way we think of metro maps today.
-
2:04 - 2:09Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, São Paulo,
Sydney, Washington, D.C. -- -
2:09 - 2:11all of them convert complex geography
-
2:11 - 2:13into crisp geometry.
-
2:13 - 2:17All of them use different colors
to distinguish between lines, -
2:17 - 2:21all of them use simple symbols
to distinguish between types of stations. -
2:21 - 2:24They all are part
of a universal language, seemingly. -
2:24 - 2:27I bet Harry Beck wouldn't have known
what a user interface was, -
2:28 - 2:30but that's really what he designed
-
2:30 - 2:33and he really took that challenge
and broke it down to three principles -
2:33 - 2:36that I think can be applied
in nearly any design problem. -
2:36 - 2:37First one is focus.
-
2:37 - 2:39Focus on who you're doing this for.
-
2:40 - 2:42The second principle is simplicity.
-
2:42 - 2:44What's the shortest way
to deliver that need? -
2:44 - 2:46Finally, the last thing is:
-
2:46 - 2:49Thinking in a cross-disciplinary way.
-
2:49 - 2:51Who would've thought
that an electrical engineer -
2:51 - 2:54would be the person to hold the key
-
2:54 - 2:58to unlock what was then one of the most
complicated systems in the world -- -
2:58 - 3:01all started by one guy
with a pencil and an idea.
- Title:
- The genius of the London Tube Map
- Speaker:
- Michael Bierut
- Description:
-
Design legend Michael Bierut tells the story of the accidental success of one of the most famous maps in the world -- the London Tube Map.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED Series
- Duration:
- 03:14
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for The genius of the London Tube Map | ||
Brian Greene accepted English subtitles for The genius of the London Tube Map | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The genius of the London Tube Map | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The genius of the London Tube Map | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The genius of the London Tube Map |