Is this the ultimate London Underground Tube map redesign?

Paris-based architect Jug Cerović’s is a clean and simple take on TfL's Tube and rail map
Clean and clear
Jug Cerović
Liz Connor10 December 2015

If you’re one of many price-crunched Londoners who has upped sticks to Zone 4 and beyond - perhaps to Croydon, Crystal Palace or Kingston - then this may be the Tube map for you.

Belgrade-born, Paris-based architect Jug Cerović has redesigned TfL’s current map, rearranging it so that both the Tube and the entire London rail network, Thames river boat services and the Emirates Air Line are more aesthetically pleasing.

Sure to be a hit with tourists, the map is not only practical for Tube and rail users, but has also been designed to make reading the inner-city tube lines easier, by using bright colours for the Tube network, and lighter, pastel ones for the National Rail network.

Plus all those curvy lines are much easier to read than TfL's congested, angular offering.

The map has been adapted to include the London rail network (Jug Cerović)

Mr. Cerović started the project last year, producing geographically accurate maps for 12 key cities around the world, from London, Paris and New York to Beijing, Moscow and Tokyo.

“A couple of years ago I developed a personal graphic language for building metro maps and started applying it to different networks around the world”, Mr. Cerović told the Evening Standard. “I was curious to see if a common language could be used for all of them to make them universally intelligible but still keep a very original and unique look for each city. And it works.”

London was obviously one of the "must dos" because of the size and history of the network as well as of the iconic status of the current map.”

The designer wanted to make a clear, uniform design for all Underground networks in the world (Jug Cerović)

He decided to revisit his London map this year, so he could focus on the entire rail network, and not just the Underground tube. The new map is a redesign of TfL's wider Rail and Tube service map.

Jug Cerović says he designs his maps by studying the size of the city, its shape, street layout and historical development in order to understand it better. Then he does the same analytical process with the metro network to learn how it works.

Then comes the graphic part: drawing of every line, positioning the stations, rearranging his map to make room for symbols that will help memorizing and orientation.

All in all he says the process “takes years”, especially as he is often working on several maps at one time.

London underground landmarks in Tube seat fabric

1/9

Mr. Cerović says he hopes that both tourists and Londoners will find his newly designed London map useful.

Perhaps someone should flag this one to Boris?

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