A Tale of Two Maps - Dr. Asaf Degani 2013

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f e a t u re

A Tale of Two Maps: Analysis of the London Underground “Diagram”

The London Underground Diagram’s use of a diagrammatic design is a good example of proper information organization.

By Asaf Degani

FEATURE AT A GLANCE: This article presents an analytical approach to the prob­lem of information organization, with special emphasis on diagrammatic design. The approach involves three levels: (a) abstraction of data into representational elements, (b) integration of these elements to create coherent structures of information, and (c) configuration of such coherent structures, through underlying order, into a whole. To illustrate this approach, the abstract map (the “Diagram”) of the London underground is analyzed, and the design techniques observed are brought to the fore. The article concludes with several principles that can be encapsulated as constraints for an algorithmic approach to diagram generation. KEYWORDS: organization of information, diagrammatic design, map design, formal methods

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n his illuminating and whimsical book,

How To Lie With Maps (1996), Mark Monmonier argued that, “A good map tells a multitude of little white lies; it suppresses truth to help the user see what needs to be seen. Reality is three-dimensional, rich in detail, and far too factual to allow a complete yet uncluttered twodimensional graphic scale model. Indeed a map that did not generalize would be useless” (p. 25). How do we, then, make useful maps and diagrams? How do we display a multitude of information about a (complex) system without rendering it useless? Figure 1 (page 8) is a geographic map of the lines and stations of the London underground network circa 1932. For more than 50 years after the inception of the London railway and trolley network in 1870, the presentation of the London Underground map was geographic. In the early 1930s, London Transport, which operates the Underground, was losing money; passengers found it difficult to understand the network of stations and lines with the geographic map provided to them (Garland, 1994). Figure 2 (page 9) shows the first abstract map of the same Underground system. Since that initial breakthrough (circa 1933), abstract maps have become pervasive and well recognized for their ability to bring to the forefront what’s important and remove the irrelevant. In doing so, they change the way we view our world. This article is an analysis of the abstract “map” of the London underground. It probes the main principles that guided the map’s revolutionary design, focusing primarily on how to suppress truth and how to generalize content. Along the way, it tells

the story of Henry Beck (the man behind the design), the evolution of the London Underground map, and some of the internal debates and design decisions that shaped and reshaped this world-renowned icon. Mr. Beck’s “Diagram” When the first abstract map was introduced to Londoners in 1933, it was immediately received with enthusiasm; at last, there was a useful map they could understand and actually use. Passengers quickly nicknamed it the “Diagram” primarily because it resembled an electrical wiring diagram. This was no coincidence; Henry Beck, the originator of the map, was an electrical draughtsman for London Transport (Leboff & Demuth, 1999). At 29 years of age, with no prior experience in graphic design, Beck came up with the idea of simplifying and organizing the “vermicelli” network by transforming it into a strict straight-line form. From 1933 onward, the London Underground Diagram maintained this unique diagrammatical form, and Beck was invited, as a part-time employee, to further develop and modify the design. By 1937, Beck had come to a casual (“gentleman’s”) agreement with London Transport: In exchange for transferring the copyright of his design to London Transport, he would be retained, as a commissioned artist, to conduct all alterations and future editing of the Diagram. At the time, he could not have imagined how this agreement would eventually come to bedevil his life. Although Beck left some written details of his conceptual breakthrough, it is difficult to glean exactly what he was thinking and how he went about creating the Diagram. Nevertheless, it is possible to analyze his end July 2013 | ergonomics in design

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