Schematic Transit Diagram
スキーマティック路線図 / 1933– / Layout / Information Design
Discards geographic accuracy for horizontal, vertical and 45-degree lines with evenly spaced stations. Beck's 1933 London Underground diagram established it as the common language of transit maps worldwide.
Lines limited to 45 degrees / Evenly spaced stations / Color-coded lines / Independence from geography
Dictionary entry
- Best used for
- Comparing primary sources and canonical works · Extracting principles that transfer to other media
- Type
- Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
- Composition
- Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
- Material
- Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process
- Caution
- Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.
- Further study
- Harry Beck / the idea borrowed from circuit diagrams / the Vignelli New York subway map controversy