london tube travel poster

Poster Art 150: London Underground's Greatest Designs

By London Transport Museum

Revisit our hugely popular Poster Art 150 exhibition. Featuring 150 of the greatest designs from our collection of more than 3,000 posters, this exhibition showcased London Underground's unrivalled reputation for commissioning memorable and stunning posters by leading artists and designers.

Say it Underground with a poster (1933) by Christopher Greaves London Transport Museum

London Underground's Greatest Designs

London Underground has a long tradition of commissioning memorable advertising posters. This exhibition, which was first on display in the Exterion Media gallery at London Transport Museum in 2013, features 150 of the best designs as chosen by a team of experts from a variety of backgrounds. We hope you enjoy revisiting this stunning exhibition as you browse this unique collection of 20th century graphic poster art. With thanks to Siemens for their generous sponsorship and support.

Brightest London is best reached by Underground (1924) by Horace Taylor London Transport Museum

How to browse this exhibition This exhibition of 150 posters is broken down into six sections: • Finding your way: posters to help passengers navigate the maze of the Underground. • Brightest London: posters showcasing what London has to offer: shopping, sports, theatres, cinemas and more! • Capital Culture: posters promoting Tube travel to London's cultural gems - museums, gardens, zoos, displays and shows. • Away from it all: posters reminding Londoners of the green spaces, countryside and idyllic settings just a train journey away. • Keeps London going: posters presenting visions of speed, strength and reliability of the Underground. • Love your city: posters celebrating the soul of London, depicting an ever-changing city that simultaneously takes pride in its heritage. You can either browse the whole exhibition by scrolling or using your keyboard or skip to a section by using the bar along the bottom. Each section is signposted with a bookmark!

The Tate Gallery by Tube (1986) by David Booth and Fine White Line London Transport Museum

Finding your way

Posters offer a powerful way to inform and instruct on way-finding and etiquette. Well-designed maps and diagrams simplify the daunting maze of lines and tunnels, enabling passengers to confidently navigate underground. Subtle humour creates commanding yet entertaining posters, promoting safe and cooperative behaviour.

The Siemens Poster Vote Visitors to the exhibition voted for their favourite poster in the gallery. This stunning design by Horace Taylor in 1924 was named as the winner.

Brightest London and home by Underground (1924) by Horace Taylor London Transport Museum

Brightest London

These posters look beyond the daily commute to capture the glamour, excitement and sense of opportunity within this dynamic city. By day, leisure activities from sports to shopping are accessible via the Underground. By night, passengers are enticed to central London's cinemas and theatres. The Underground and its customers are portrayed as contemporary and 'in the know'. The city becomes bigger and brighter and today more people than ever discover London by Tube.

For the Zoo book to Regent's Park (1921) by Charles Paine London Transport Museum

Capital culture

Let the Underground bring the world to you! Before the rise of global media, the museums and the great exhibition halls showcased the world in one city. These posters promote Tube travel to London's cultural gems. Art shows and air displays sit alongside London Zoo and places of history and grandeur. Powerful imagery and bold colours paint London as a place to inspire both awe and enjoyment. Your Travelcard is your passport to wonders of the world, made easily accessible by Underground.

By Underground to fresh air (1915) by Maxwell Ashby Armfield London Transport Museum

Away from it all

Freedom is closer than you think. Romantic, colourful and optimistic, these posters remind Londoners how easy it is to get away from urban grime into London’s green spaces and nearby countryside. Idyllic settings are just a train journey away. The drive to boost off-peak ticket sales inspired the promotion of the Underground as a means of escape as well as a way of getting from A to B, offering the best of both worlds.   

We are transforming your Tube (2007) by Studio Oscar London Transport Museum

Keeps London going

These posters present visions of speed, strength and reliability. The image of the Underground is reinforced as a dynamic and popular service. The Underground’s strong visual identity and powerful branding is largely a result of the culture of good design and ‘fitness for purpose’ established by Frank Pick and it continues today through the Tube Upgrade Plan.

London's fairs (1951) by William Roberts London Transport Museum

Love your city

Underground posters depict London in all its colour, culture and diversity. People, places, events and landmarks new and old are presented in dramatic fashion. They depict an ever-changing city that also takes pride in its history and heritage. From maps with a medieval influence to visions of the future, the posters adopt different techniques to celebrate the soul of the city. 

With thanks to Siemens for their generous sponsorship and support for the Poster Art 150 exhibition. Our expert panel: Brian Webb – Designer and Visiting Professor at the University of the Arts, London Catherine Flood – Prints Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum Paul Rennie – Senior Academic at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design Nicolette Tomkinson – Christie’s Director and Head of the Vintage Poster department Tamsin Dillon – Head of Art on the Underground Simon Patterson – Artist, creator of the ‘Great Bear’ artwork Oliver Green – Research Fellow and former Head Curator at London Transport Museum Michael Walton – Head of Trading at London Transport Museum and poster commissioner Also with thanks to the Museum’s Young Advisors: Gloria Gaspard, Izara de Nobrega, Elvis Miranda and Aobakwe Mokgalagadi for their help with curating the exhibition.

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The 12 best London Underground posters

Our pick of the most iconic tube posters of the last century.

The London Underground is celebrating its 160 year anniversary this year, making it the oldest underground railway system in the world. It also has some of the most iconic branding ever created, including the roundel, map and London Underground posters. But things weren't always this way. At the turn of the 20th century, the London Underground was considered overcrowded and dirty, and was in desperate need of a makeover in public perception. 

Enter Frank Pick, creator of the London Underground brand strategy. Pick was appalled at the previous marketing strategy of the tube and in 1908 was given publicity as one of his responsibilities. 

Pick integrated the London Underground branding design, commissioning the typeface , roundel and Harry Beck's tube map . He began working with prominent artists to create beautifully designed London Underground posters that showcased graphic design and emerging artistic styles of the era. He even organised public exhibitions of London Underground posters to showcase the cutting-edge design. 

Pick realised the key to success was to focus less on the journey itself and more on the places and events that London had to offer a traveller. The London Underground posters and campaign rebranded the tube as a warm and bright way to reach the cultural highlights of the city.

We have selected the best London Underground posters from each decade since the turn of the 20th century to showcase the success of Pick's approach, and the iconic branding that is celebrated worldwide. And if that's not enough to get your creative juices flowing, we've also got this beautiful selection of poster designs to inspire you. 

Click on the icon at the top-right of the image to enlarge it.

01. Golders Green: 1908

Golders Green is the first in a series of London Underground posters that was vital in shaping the expansion of the city. The design offers idyllic country living, in easy reach of the city as shown by the train and station displayed in the background. 

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This London Underground poster artwork and use of poetry by William Cowper cleverly sells a lifestyle to the London commuter, and it was totally successful in its approach. In 1903 Golders Green was just a country crossroads and within a decade it had transformed into a bustling suburban community with the rail terminus at its centre.  

02. The Swiftest way to Pleasure: 1913

Charles Sharland designed this poster to encourage people to get out and about during their leisure time. The in-house designer combined the idea of a joy wheel, a popular fairground ride from the time, with the Underground symbol. 

According to the London Transport Museum blog , the Underground ‘bull’s-eye’ symbol in the centre was part of the Underground’s corporate identity. In 1916, the calligrapher Edward Johnston was asked to adapt his typeface to fit in a new roundel logo, which has become the logo we know today.

The highly stylised people in this poster are falling off the joy wheel, heading towards the diverse locations accessible by tube.

03. Seeing / Hearing / Touching / Smelling / Tasting The Riches of London: 1927

London Underground posters often run in series. And Frederick Charles Herrick 's poster series from 1927 is a stunning example of the Art Deco opulence that is so important in the history of tube design ( check out these amazing Art Deco stations ). 

One side of Pick's marketing strategy focused on individual places and events but the other approach was to reflect the cultural excitement of the city as a whole. These posters are a multi-sensory bombardment of modern city pleasure, highly intense and incredibly exciting. The intricate graphic design is bold and complex, with different elements of the city represented more specifically in the banners. They work so well as a quintet that we couldn't pick just one to include.

04. Power, the Nerve Centre of London's Underground: 1931

Edward McKnight Kauffer designed 140 posters for London Underground and this example projects his bold, modernist style. With clear design influences from Futurism and Bauhaus, this London Underground poster enforces the ideology of man and machine that was so prevalent at the time. The bold geometric shapes signify his move away from traditional poster design and into graphic design.

05. Please stand on the right of the escalator: 1944

London Underground etiquette is the reason the system is able to run so efficiently. With millions of commuters and tourists packed into its tunnels everyday, without the social niceties and rules, things would quickly descend into chaos. 

London Underground posters enforces these social regulations through a series of campaigns that are still running today. Our favourite of the 1944 collection by Fougasse (Cyril Kenneth Bird) depicts perhaps the most well-known rule: to always stand on the right when using the escalator. Any tourist standing on the left will know the wrath of the Londoners running up the stairs behind them, tutting loudly. 

Fougasse's design brings a comic strip style and observational humour to the situation that will hopefully evoke feelings of empathy for the unknowing passengers daring to defy convention.

06. Royal London: 1953

The 1950s saw regeneration across London. The post-war strategy was to encourage tourism and show that Britain was recovering and open for business. A poster campaign began, comprised of a beautifully designed picture representing an element of London sightseeing, and a paired poster packed full of information. 

These campaigns were run by London Transport as a whole, uniting the different modes of transport under the banner of tourism. We've chosen this example for its iconic Beefeater, brought bang up to date with its stylised design. The Royal London series took full advantage of London's royal history and present, with some picture design as modern as this, and others echoing an age long since past. 

07. London After Dark: 1968

The swinging '60s are perfectly encapsulated in Fred Millet's London Underground poster design. The Pop Art graphics entice Londoners and tourists alike to indulge in the magic of the West End after dark, and of course to use the tube to get there. 

08. London Zoo: 1976

This stunning tiger is archetypal 1970s in its block formation and clashing retro colours. The mustard yellow is a classic central colour from the era. Abram Games designed this graphic London Underground poster to encourage people to visit London Zoo. 

London Zoo has had some beautiful posters throughout the last century, for example this wonderful 1930s elephant design .

09. Keep your personal stereo, personal: 1987

This digital-age etiquette poster had to make the list for its attention grabbing '80s graphic design. After all, what could be more '80s then a Walkman on a mannequin made to look like a robot? 

The rainbow lightening bolts and the cassette tape for eyes pack a bold punch. You can just imagine rows of commuters wearing shoulder pads and neon eyeshadow bobbing their heads along to their own cassette tapes. 

10. Simply Showbiz: 1998

Britpop had firmly put London on the showbiz map during the 1990s and London was a hot ticket destination. Lesley Saddington created this London Underground poster design as part of the Simply poster series. Saddington is inspired by Ballet Russes (1900-1929) and Marc Chagall , an artist of the modernist movement. These influences result in a design that has echoes of past tube design but with a contemporary twist. 

Simply Showbiz has a distinctly '90s colour palate (imagine '90s Saturday night TV and you'll know what I mean), and the fluidity and form of the figures is typical of the artist who often works with collage. 

11.  Spring Summer Autumn Winter: 2006

This four part series by Paul Catherall shows different parts of the London skyline in each of the four seasons. The sharp, clean cut outs are super-modern and are what the artist has become known for. We love the evocative colour palates as the seasons change, and the bold block uses of colour.

12. Brightest London (reimagined): 2016 

The original Brightest London design was a top contender for our 1920's pick. Beautiful and boldly Art Deco in style, the original graphic design cemented the tube's new branding as a warm, welcoming and bright part of London's cultural scene. 

In 2016 it was reimagined for the modern age by Virginie Morgand . We love how similar the graphics and styling is and yet it is totally up-to-date in its depiction of a London restaurant scene.

Images via the London Transport museum

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Georgia is lucky enough to be Creative Bloq's Editor. She has been working for Creative Bloq since 2018, starting out as a freelancer writing about all things branding, design, art, tech and creativity – as well as sniffing out genuinely good deals on creative technology. Since becoming Editor, she has been managing the site on a day-to-day basis, helping to shape the diverse content streams CB is known for and leading the team in their own creativity. 

Related articles

Featuring 100 posters designed to promote travel on the London Underground from 1914 through 1939, this exhibition highlights the subjects and artists that made this poster campaign such a vibrant civic art presence.

Everyone’s Art Gallery: Posters of the London Underground

May 25 – Sep 5, 2019

Mary Koop. Printed by Dangerfield Printing Company Limited. Summer Sales Quickly Reached by Underground , 1925. Gift of London Underground Railway.

• Galleries 124–27

In 1919, 39 posters came to the Art Institute of Chicago, courtesy of the Underground Electric Railways London. The posters, full of brilliant colors and innovative designs, were part of an effort to encourage Londoners to use this commercial transportation system: to visit the city’s cultural attractions, go shopping, attend sporting events, and even venture into the countryside—all by taking Underground trains and buses, of course. Installed outside Underground stations on public streets and on the front of buses that traversed the city, these posters formed a vibrant civic art presence—a public gallery available to all.  

Over the next 20 years more posters arrived at the museum, coming at irregular intervals and eventually forming a collection of almost 350 artworks—an extraordinary sample from the golden age of this remarkable poster campaign, one that continues to this day. Until now, however, the story of how and why these posters came to Chicago has not been known. The architect of the poster campaign, from its inception in 1908 until 1939, was Frank Pick, an executive with London’s Underground. Pick’s enthusiasm for art education led him to commission poster designs from many young artists. Indeed, it is likely that the close relationship between the Art Institute of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute was one reason that Pick chose the museum as the eventual keeper of this poster archive. 

This exhibition , the first at the museum to showcase this unique collection, begins with a chronological sampling of the posters. Thematic sections feature popular subjects, such as the zoo, museums, and Hampton Court, the royal palace southwest of London on the Thames, while focused displays are devoted to three of the greatest artists who worked for the Underground: Charles Paine, Frederick Herrick, and one of the most illustrious poster artists of the 20th century, Edward McKnight Kauffer, who studied briefly at the School of the Art Institute on his way to Europe.

Among the show’s highlights is Charles Paine’s clever take on King Henry the VIII, depicting him with large shears trimming the heads off his topiary queens in Hampton Court by Tram (1922). Others include Mary Koop’s Summer Sales (1925), which invites viewers to follow a riot of brightly colored umbrellas toward their shopping destination; a modernist depiction of time by Clive Gardiner from 1928 urging riders to buy a season Underground ticket; and Harold Sandys Williamson’s Cheap Tickets to Town, Shop between 10 and 4 (1939), an almost surrealistic view of the London cityscape, its sky a sea of floating barrage balloons as protection from German bombs.

A century after the initial posters arrived at the museum, this exhibition features 100 posters—a celebration of the gift, Frank Pick’s inventive campaign, and the beautiful artworks it produced.

Posters of the London Underground

Summer Sales Quickly Reached, 1925

Mary Koop. Printed by Dangerfield Printing Company Limited

For the Zoo , 1921

Charles Paine. Printed by the Baynard Press

Reigate , 1915

Edward McKnight Kauffer. Printed by Johnson, Riddle and Company Limited

Museum of Natural History , 1923

Edward McKnight Kauffer. © 2019 Simon Rendall

To the Cup Final , 1925

L. B. Black

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