Hasta La Ideas

Recognise this? It’s the logo of the London Passenger Transport Board. And in 1933 it almost replaced one of the most famous logos of all time, the London Transport Roundel

We have been busy gathering material for our March issue, which will be themed around the 150th birthday of the London Underground. Last Friday I was fortunate enough to have a sneak preview of the London Transport Museum’s upcoming exhibition, Poster Art 150, featuring 150 of the greatest posters designed for the tube. The first poster visitors will see on entering the show is this one, designed in 1933 by Christopher Greaves.

In the bottom right corner it carries, not the familiar Roundel, but the logo of the then-newly-formed London Passenger Transport Board. As the LTM explains, the LPTB “was created as a single giant public authority to run all bus, tram and underground railway services across the capital. The new Board wanted to introduce a unifying logo to represent all its newly acquired services. A winged symbol incorporating the new initials was designed by C W Bacon.”

Here it is in use on an explanatory booklet (thanks to Mike Ashworth of TFL for the images, more here)

And here in colour form on another leaflet

Thankfully good sense in, as with so much else on the tube, the shape of Frank Pick prevailed. After just a few months, Pick, who was now chief executive of the organisation, suggested a return to the infinitely superior Roundel and the LPTB adopted the far less cumbersome trading name of London Transport, for which a new version of the roundel was commissioned.

There will be lots more tube-related design stories in our March issue, out in the last week of February. Poster Art 150 opens at the London Transport Museum on Februray 15.

CR in Print
The February issue of CR magazine features a major interview with graphic designer Ken Garland. Plus, we delve into the Heineken advertising archive, profile digital art and generative design studio Field, talk to APFEL and Linder about their collaboration on a major exhibition in Paris for the punk artist, and debate the merits of stock images versus commissioned photography. Plus, a major new book on women in graphic design, the University of California logo row and what it means for design, Paul Belford on a classic Chivas Regal ad and Jeremy Leslie on the latest trends in app design for magazines and more. Buy your copy here.

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