London Underground

Alfred Leete, 1915

Having just moved out of London again, I'm genuinely relieved that I no longer have to use the overpriced, dirty, inefficient (etc.) transport hub that is the infamous tube. But let's not be too cynical; London's underground railway system is the oldest in the world, dating back to 1863... Wowzers. Eighteen Sixty Three. Man, that's really old.

Everything is relative, and you can probably imagine that the space-time compressing network of colourful, squiggly lines around London was nothing short of a marvel back in its heyday. 

To illustrate this great feat of engineering, the London Underground released this poster in 1915. This was designed by Alfred Leete (the dude that made the 'your country needs you' posters of Lord Kitchener). I love the bold modernist and simple design here - good alignment, balance and repetition.

I don't know what's more surprising: that anyone would bother investing in a motor vehicle that only reached 12 mph or that the tube reaches a whopping 24mph... which I might find easier to believe on the completion of the £10bn upgrade.

Alfred Leete, 1927

And to the left we have Leete's dystopic vision of the  2012 

Olympic games. 

You've gotta hand it to them, you can hate on the tube all you want but the London Underground has an amazing history of top-quality graphic design that is a continuous source of inspiration, and you can find a rich resource of the artwork here.