I was watching the excellent series “Art Deco Icons” at the weekend. This week they followed the history of Transport for London. Visiting the wonderful 1930s headquaters at 55 Broadway – now the underground station for St.James Park. (You can catch it again on iPlayer before 18th Nov)

David Heathcote tours us around the above building and briefly pauses under a framed Underground map which was drawn before the rebrand of Transport for London. Its a sprawling mess of a poster but certainly depicts how London was rapidly increasing in size, with the center of London still being within easy commuting distance from outer London suburbs.

This poster (below) prompted me to do some digging and write this post.

The re-brand of Transport for London and the ‘tube’ logo is one of the finest examples of graphic communication ever produced. In fact I never even thought about the “rectangular carriage” going down the “circle of the tube” until watching the above show.

I’m sure most people reading this blog will know the famous re-draw of the London Underground map was produced by a 29-year old draughtsmans by the name of Harry Beck. There’s been a few reiterations over the last 75+ years but in essence it’s still as clear and concise to this day as it was when first introduced. Now being used by millions of underground travellers every day – at least once the traveller realizes the Thames does not in fact flow at right angles, sometimes walking is actually quicker than going underground and the map is purely a graphic representation and not geographically accurate!

From a designers point of view, the other great thing about the rebrand of Transport for London was the typeface used. “Johnston” created in 1916 by Edward Johnston was the typeface of choice for Mr Beck and to this day is still being used for all signage, livery and marketing communications.

You’d be forgiven if you mistook it for Eric Gill’s typeface “Gill Sans” which was designed between 1927-1930, roughly ten years after Johnston was publicly released. Edward Johnston, a teacher at Central School of Arts and Crafts at the time, remarked on seeing Gill’s work “I was caught unprepared. I did not know such beauties could exist”. A super quote for one of the most influential type designers/sculptors/stone cutters/print designers of the 20th Century.

It’s an iconic tale and a perfect example of a company rebrand that has stood the test of time and been adored by millions.