Fun Information Design: TfL

Fun Information Design: TfL

We can’t travel, but I can flip through my pictures and remember visiting places and being impressed by the signage.

Doesn’t everyone go places just to admire the signage? No?

Here is one of my favourite bits of information design. Perhaps because it’s the first thing I see when I get to the Tube level at Heathrow, which means my amazing holiday is about to begin. Or maybe just because it’s effective and at communicating the possibilities ahead of you.

These two pillars are next to each other, underscoring the starkness of your choice at this decision point. From the platform on the left, and you can go to one place: Heathrow Terminal 5. But the platform to the right is the gateway to central London. Look at all the places you can go!

It’s a big sign with too much information on it, which is a rarity for TfL signage. It doesn’t obscure which way to Terminal 5, it’s very clear, but you don’t actually need to read all that text on the right to know that you want to go that way. They might as well have put up a sign that says, “Everything is that way, basically.”

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