London photoblog: Transport and typography

Using my trusty Nokia 6288, with its mighty two megapixels, I attempted a little photoblogging of sights that caught my interest.

London Tube

Although I've never ridden it a a daily basis for work, the London Tube is by far my favorite subway system in terms of design. Many of their stations, old and new, are landmarks.

It's impossible to get lost in one of there stations. Their signage is ubiquitous yet efficient. For almost the past ten years, they've even been doing something that New York City has yet to master--showing the time remaining until the next train.

However, on this trip, the Tube seemed to be have seen better days.


I'm glad I walk home from work!


Many stations had chicken wire standing in for missing or removed ceiling panels.


See that helicopter? Leave your initials on a subway car and they'll come after you with everything they've got.

Groovy design

London is never needs to prove itself, but I still love it when it impresses me with cool design.


These are beanbag chairs in a friend's office at a financial services company. They look cool, but I doubt people ever get the time to use them.


Good window typography #1; I love the typeface and contrast in type sizes.


I'm a sucker for puns.


Beautiful window lettering on same restaurant.


Gatwick duty free: Nice way to use all sides of the box.

Mangled Michigan

Nestled deep in the HTML of every page of my website is a tiny code snippit for Google Analytics. It compiles website traffic statistics every 24 hours, but I never check it that often.

One of the handy reports it creates is a map showing where my website visitors are coming from. It's fun to see the odd visitor from Oslo or Los Angeles plotted on a map.

Recently, Google Analytics updated their site and updated their maps. While global warming is affecting the Great Lakes, causing lower lake levels among other problems, the new map in Google Analytics erased the Great Lakes completely, turning Michigan into a giant blob.



I'd love to see the map corrected sometime soon. On a better day, Michigan is surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes--making the state's lower peninsula look like someone's right hand. Google Maps, including the NASA-provided satellite image below, shows Michigan as it normally is.



I grew up on Lake Michigan (the lower left lake) and could watch the sun set on the water from my house. Many of my fondest childhood memories involved going to the beach and going swimming.