On 2012\08\17 10:42, Richard J. wrote:
Basil Jet wrote on 15 August 2012
15:42:03 ...
Maxwell J Roberts, formerly of this parish, has a new-ish book out.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Underground-...pr_product_top


I've only seen the cover in the window of the LT Museum, so can't
comment.

If you scroll down to near the bottom of that Amazon web page, there's a
long and enthusiastic review by Douglas Rose of this book, which is, he
says, "not a book about Underground maps - the real messages are far
wider. The sub-title of the book `Explorations in Information Design' is
what it is really about."

Sounds interesting, but £45 is a bit steep.


As we approach the point where everyone has a smart-phone, we might
reach the situation where the cost of designing, printing and
distributing the tube-map exceeds its utility, and we might then see the
last tube-map. Regular passengers know that certain system breakdowns
are best dealt with by leaving the system and getting a bus, and there's
just no way that static information design can encapsulate all the
information that you really need to use the tube system.

Any organisation should be embarrassed to be displaying information
which is inferior to what people have on a device in their pocket made
by someone else. Also, the current system of having enamel maps down on
the platforms telling you what tracks have been built, and paper maps on
an easel up in the ticket office telling you what tracks actually have
trains on them today, is a bit of an anachronism.