Visual Appendix

My visual appendix is a visual methodology/response to my essay on Harry Beck's 1933 tube map and the impact on the wider culture. My response was to use Beck's style to create a set of maps. These maps would be based on the layouts/stylings of London's Underground, Moscow's Metro, and the New York Subway maps. I created a set that would use the principles of these maps to interpret the physical geography of some of the UK's biggest cities in relation to each other. This would be a challenge as one of Beck's principles (perhaps the most radical) was to remove the literal geography of London in order to space out the stations equally (thus making the congested central areas easier to read, and bringing the outskirts of London in - making look as if they were closer than in reality).

UK Map - London Style

UK Map - Moscow Style

UK Map - New York City Style

The UK map in the style of London is probably the most accurate - or looks most like a real map. The Moscow style map revolves around a central circle that all over lines revolve around, so it's a little harder to map the points at the edges of the country, especially as I put the country's capital as the center point of my map.

The New York map is a lot looser, there is a less rigid structure, as in none of the lines have to fit to Beck's 45 degrees and straight rule, so the lines have a bit more a curve to them.

Personally I think that the London style map looks the most aesthetically pleasing, even if it's not the most functional map ever.

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The second part of my appendix was to copy a similar concept to Simon Patterson's Great Bear - which saw Patterson use the same layout as the London Underground map but change all the station names and lines to non-geographical content such as philosophers, footballers, actors, saints etc. I used this mapping the abstract approach to make a map of me - mapping different aspects of my life such as football, education, aspirations, where I've traveled, my design inspirations among others.

Again I used London's Underground, Moscow's Metro, and New York City's Subway maps as a base for the layout but I did change up the layout.

Map Of Me - London Style

Map Of Me - Moscow Style

Map Of Me - New York Style

I think that the Moscow map looks the best because everything runs through the center and is much more balanced, and is the most abstract so fits the best. The London and New York styles are less good because they are more reliant on some physical geography to tie them together, whereas the Moscow one is easier to overlap with the central circle.