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Design Classics No. 2
Posted by: David Keech on 13th Nov 2007 in Design Classics
Ordnance Survey Maps
My own favourite being a 1:50 000 First Series from 1976, sheet 141 to be precise. An object of great beauty and supreme usefulness. The images here are from the OS's own excellent web-based "Get-a-map" service. Here you can OS your way across the whole of Britain in an intriguing and symbolic way.
Cast your mind back to 1791, when the Government realised that in planning adequate defences to repel invasion, the South Coast of England needed to be accurately mapped. It instructed its Board of Ordnance (the defence ministry of its day) to undertake the necessary survey work.
This led to the detailed mapping of the entire country and eventually, in the OS's own words "a dynamic, self-financing ?100-million-a-year civilian organisation at the forefront of the e-business revolution, producing computer data products and paper maps for business, leisure, administrative and educational use."
But for me it is the paper maps that represent classic design. They have much in common with Harry Beck's iconic and much praised London tube map; their methodical simplicity giving rise to graphic beauty and immediate usability.
The OS maps have the kind of aesthetic appeal that is only possible through years of design evolution and rationalisation. How about that lovely pinkish red of the A-roads, or the apple green of the wooded areas? Not to mention the play of positive and negative space and angled text to be found in the margin between the edge of the map and the black longitude and latitude border.
You can use the maps to find a place of worship (with tower) in Ayot St. Lawrence, or to navigate safely across the more remote parts of the Yorkshire Dales on foot, for a week. I know that because I've done it. And how else could you know which woods are coniferous and which deciduous at a glance?
As the good map says "The well-known format of the OS Landranger Map provides the user with the most consistent depiction of Great Britain" and is "your passport to town and country". I couldn't agree more.
I wonder if anyone has ever phoned the Ordnance Survey number kindly given on the inside cover, claiming to be lost?
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk
Posted by: David Keech on 13th Nov 2007 in Design Classics
Ordnance Survey Maps
My own favourite being a 1:50 000 First Series from 1976, sheet 141 to be precise. An object of great beauty and supreme usefulness. The images here are from the OS's own excellent web-based "Get-a-map" service. Here you can OS your way across the whole of Britain in an intriguing and symbolic way.
Cast your mind back to 1791, when the Government realised that in planning adequate defences to repel invasion, the South Coast of England needed to be accurately mapped. It instructed its Board of Ordnance (the defence ministry of its day) to undertake the necessary survey work.
This led to the detailed mapping of the entire country and eventually, in the OS's own words "a dynamic, self-financing ?100-million-a-year civilian organisation at the forefront of the e-business revolution, producing computer data products and paper maps for business, leisure, administrative and educational use."
But for me it is the paper maps that represent classic design. They have much in common with Harry Beck's iconic and much praised London tube map; their methodical simplicity giving rise to graphic beauty and immediate usability.
The OS maps have the kind of aesthetic appeal that is only possible through years of design evolution and rationalisation. How about that lovely pinkish red of the A-roads, or the apple green of the wooded areas? Not to mention the play of positive and negative space and angled text to be found in the margin between the edge of the map and the black longitude and latitude border.
You can use the maps to find a place of worship (with tower) in Ayot St. Lawrence, or to navigate safely across the more remote parts of the Yorkshire Dales on foot, for a week. I know that because I've done it. And how else could you know which woods are coniferous and which deciduous at a glance?
As the good map says "The well-known format of the OS Landranger Map provides the user with the most consistent depiction of Great Britain" and is "your passport to town and country". I couldn't agree more.
I wonder if anyone has ever phoned the Ordnance Survey number kindly given on the inside cover, claiming to be lost?
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk
