Design Assembly

As a regular commuter on the Victoria Line for many years, I have become familiar with the different tiled motifs behind the seating on each platform. Perhaps, due to over-familiarity I’ve not given much thought to origins and reasoning behind each design. Until I saw all 16 designs together, I didn’t appreciate the diversity of styles and ideas brought together for one purpose; a new underground line.

The Victoria Line was the first new underground line to cross central London since the beginning of the 20th century. It opened in three sections; in 1968 between Walthamstow Central and Warren Street, in 1969 extending to Victoria, and 1971 stretching down to Brixton. This new line provided the opportunity to produce a new and consistent look across the whole line, from the trains themselves to the stations and platforms. All aspects of design were overseen by Misha Black, the Design Consultant for London Transport (1964–1968), who previously had a similar role with British Rail. He employed the talents of the The Design Research Unit (DRU) – a collective of designers, artists and architects who designed all aspects of the VIctoria Line.

Each platform was designed with a very muted colour scheme, described by some of the press at the time as the ‘late lavatorial style’ (1, P58). The tiled designs in each seat recess provided much needed colour and decoration, and gave each stop its own visual identity. The results were a mixture of direct inspiration from the station name and references to historical details of the local area.

1. Blackhorse Road by Hans Unger.

2. Seven Sisters by Hans Unger – seven elm trees referring to a local legend.

3. Oxford Circus by Hans Unger – a pattern of dots representing the crossing of Victoria, Central and Bakerloo lines.

4. Left – a sketch of the original Green Park design by Hans Unger using circles to represent the park’s trees. Right – the current version by June Fraser

5. Brixton by Hans Unger – a play on words showing a ‘ton of bricks’.
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Hans Unger, already a regular poster designer for London Transport (1950–1974) received the most commissions. He produced designs for Blackhorse Road, Seven Sisters, Oxford Circus, Green Park and Brixton. His elegantly drawn Blackhorse Road design unconventionally shows a horse from the front, but gets lost in the ocean of blue background that it sits on. His approach to Seven Sisters, Oxford Circus and Green Park were exercises in minimalism. The elms trees for Seven Sisters were reduced to simple lines and circles, but are still recognisable (providing you know the ’sisters’ refer to trees). Oxford Circus, in an uninspired move was represented by the intersection of different tube lines with coloured dots. With Green Park, he showed the trees from a birds-eye point of view, reducing them to green and yellow coloured circles. Sadly this design was replaced with June Fraser’s more literal leaves once the Jubilee line opened, due to reasons of deterioration and an attempt to match the new Jubilee Line designs. For Brixton Unger chose a simple play on words – by reversing the name and picturing a ‘ton of bricks’. It fails to conjure up any feel of the local area, but it does provide a memorable, surreal image. For this reason I think it’s the most successful of his designs for the Victoria Line.

6. Warren Street by Alan Fletcher – a puzzle for the bored commuter
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Alan Fletcher, while still part of Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes was chosen to produce a design for Warren Street. He decided to used ‘warren’ as the starting point, and in a typically playful move created a puzzle for the commuter to solve while they waited for their next train. He noted that the average waiting time was around three minutes, so hoped the puzzle would be difficult to solve in under four.

7. Walthamstow Central by Julia Black – based on a William Morris design

8. Pimlico by Peter Sedgely – based on one of his own abstract paintings
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Two of the motifs were directly inspired by artists. Walthamstow Central claimed William Morris, who grew up in the area whose former home is now an excellent museum on his life and work. Julia Black based her design on a Morris print, only the colours were restricted by the tile-makers at the time; she had to switch from the original fuschia pink to an acidic orange. For Pimlico, the Tate (Britain) gallery provided the inspiration. Instead of reproducing a well-known work from the gallery, Misha Black commissioned contemporary artist, Peter Sedgley to produce a new piece specifically for the station. His submission was an Op-art design of various-sized yellow dots on white tiles. Unfortunately the artist’s request of washable grout was declined, and now the dots sit on a grid of squares formed by the underground’s grimy atmosphere.

9. Finsbury Park by Tom Eckersley – showing duelling pistols

10. Tottenham Hale by Edward Bawden – a ferryboat on the River Lea
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11. (Clockwise from left) a. Euston by Tom Eckersley – showing the railway station’s Doric Arch, b. Vauxhall by George Smith – the old Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, c. Highbury & Islington by Edward Bawden, d. Victoria by Edward Bawden
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From the designs inspired by the local history, I found the two most eye-catching historical tiles were: Finsbury Park’s two elegant pistols, crossed like swords, recalling the days when arguments were settled at 50 paces, and Tottenham Hale’s ferry-boat on the River Lea by Edward Bawden. Both of these images have little relevance to the people living there now, but provide a strong identifier for that area. Other historical-based designs such as Euston’s Doric Arch (demolished in 1962), Vauxhall’s gardens (closed in the mid-19th century) and Highbury & Islington’s castle (destroyed in the 14th century) feel strangely detached and archaic.

12. Stockwell by Abram Games – a semi-abstract swan, representing the nearby pub of the same name.
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Personally I regard the most successful and beautiful design as Abram Games‘ design for Stockwell. It combines a dynamic pattern appropriate for this medium, with a solid reference to a local landmark. Only the two small triangles representing the beak, which are easy to miss, prevent this swan from becoming an abstract pattern of zig-zags.

With the range of artists and styles the Victoria Line motifs were only united by consistent placement of each design and the time they were commissioned. Some have aged badly, or even been replaced, but others still look fresh now. I judge the most successful to be the most distinctive; ones that could be identified without a station name. A mark of a strong brand is being able to recognise the visual element without the name. With this criteria the standouts for me are Brixton’s floating bricks and Stockwell’s jagged swan, with Finsbury Park’s pistols close behind.

By re-examining these designs, I have a renewed appreciation for this art I used to see everyday. I may not consider every one of these successful, but to understand why they were produced and the story behind them is sometimes more interesting than the artwork itself.

Sources and further reading
— (1) The Victoria Line, Mike Horne, Capital Transport, 2004
— The Story of the Victoria Line, John R. Day, London Transport, 1971
— Misha Black, Avril Blake, Design Council, 1984
— The Practical Idealists, Twenty-five years of designing for industry, John & Avril Blake, Lund Humphries, 1969
— London Transport Museum website – Underground Lines
— Wikipedia – Victoria Line
— London Transport Museum Library – thanks for your help.

All images have been taken from the Wikipedia page, with the exception of image 1 which has been provided by bowroaduk.

Credit must go to Diamond Geezer, who sparked off the idea for this post