Saturday, April 4, 2015

The Genesis of the Twentieth-Century

        When thinking about the origin of Twentieth-Century design, I am usually drawn to the 

London Underground design. I am drawn towards it because of the significance of the 

development of the logo. The Underground logo is important to this time because of a 

variety of reasons, including the three popular questions of why it was made, how it was  

made, and what it was made for. 

A man named Frank Pick was the one who started it all, by having and providing his 

vision to the Underground Group. Frank was not a person that came from a background of 

art, or even someone who studied it. Even though he didn’t have any type of training when 

it came to art, he developed a passion for design while working as an attorney for a firm 

that had design programs. With this passion, he took the Underground project very 

seriously to the point where he personally selected artists to create the designs required. 

Just because he had hand picked his artists, it didn’t mean that all of their work would 

be accepted. He would turn down work that weren’t up to par, but also promote those that 

were. The artists were given little direction, such as the theme, but not much else. So, who 

would expect all the work to be great when they hardly know what they are supposed to 

make? The work that he turned down the most was when it dealt with type. Frank was very 

displeased with the typography of the Underground, so he commissioned Edward 

Johnston, a calligrapher, to design a “one-of-a-kind” typeface for the Underground. 


After going through a few versions of the typeface, one was decided upon. This is the 

same type that is still used today. It is bold, simple and consistent with line weight from 

letter to letter. After creating the font, Edward also designed a new version of the 

Underground logo, while introducing the new type. The fact that it is still around today 

proves that the Underground logo is a strong design that originated in the Twentieth-

Century.  




Underground Blueprints





Underground Finished






















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