Roberts M – TUBE MAP CENTRAL – 2022+ 2022

Description

The author, a transit-map researcher and designer, explores how map design rules should match network structure, optimizing simplicity, coherence, balance, topographicity and harmony. He is known for concentric-circles-and-spokes designs but stresses these are design explorations, not universal prescriptions. Usability testing (notably a circular Berlin map) revealed weaknesses—users found all routes appeared roundabout—so circular designs suit naturally radial-orbital or historically concentric cities (e.g., Koln, Amsterdam, Moscow). A student-led guerrilla campaign and professional reworking led to Koln’s official adoption of a circular map. The author applies a prototype methodology across projects: Amsterdam, London (updated after TfL’s concentric experiment), Paris (museum-requested update), and country-scale Netherlands and Brussels circle maps, balancing schematisation with topographical accuracy. Other interests include a comprehensive visual “cylinder of fifths” for musical modes, a New York map inspired by the Hagstrom 1951 edition, and a series of fictional Lego-based rail maps. Overall, he advocates careful, context-driven schematisation rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.