It's London Baby! Some Thoughts Around Design Choices – From London Public Transport & Museums

Between 2023 and 2024, the wife was studying in London for her second Masters’ and I was fortunate to make a few trips to London (and a few surrounding areas) through that period.

The first time that I landed in London, at the Heathrow airport, I was very pleasantly surprised by some of the choices they had made.

While there are many many great things to write about London – it is a legit great ‘international’ city with so many different nationalities and cultures (and their respective food/restaurants!), high density of public parks, high pedestrian friendliness, very well-connected public transport system, wonderfully informative (and so many!) museums, active theatre scene, the weekend/seasonal markets that come up etc. – I intend on only covering one (or related two!) tiny sliver(s) in this post. There may be some follow-ups – I don’t know.

But, before that, some general housekeeping.

Each of these points I mentioned above – they can be a separate post on its own merit. Also, yes – I can also shit on some or other aspects of the city, or talk about the ‘stolen’ aspect of the museums etc. But – why? It’s good to appreciate things :-). In addition, I was a guest there – it’s not particularly great etiquette either, is it?

I’ll largely stick to just one thing for today – their incredibly thoughtful way of sharing information, with a clear focus on helping visitors. Mostly through public transport, with a few bits from their museums thrown in for good measure. Especially with transport, the clarity feels like an intentional design choice by the Transport for London (TfL) team.

Imagine you’re sitting at a bus-stop, intending to board a bus to get to location X. Are you sitting on the correct bus-stop and not the one that would lead you in the opposite direction? How do you know that? Have you had to ask someone about it? Do you need to check landmarks to be sure? “It’s obvious”, you say – but how was it made obvious?

TfL’s Solution: Alphabetised Stops

TfL has a remarkably simple and clear approach: letter-coded bus stops. Each bus-stop is marked with a different alphabet so you know you’re in the right direction and the right stop for your bus based on whether, e.g., you’re seated at bus-stop D, K, or L. So you only need to care (from google maps/TfL’s own app) about the alphabet of the stop and don’t need to keep in mind other things (“I am at the Andrews Ganj bus stop, on the other side, near that juice shop”).

Notice the alphabet label at top

and the buses that would stop here

The different stops that the different buses would take. Also, the frequency of their arrival

Bus stop with clear information on how to pay

Payment for transportation through buses and underground tube is fully digital, and I am not a big fan of that. But, it’s a policy of the city, and TfL does a great job making it clear on how one can go about paying.

The buses also do a great job at being extremely friendly for those on a wheelchair. The gate to enter the bus is almost at the same height as the footpath, and all buses also have a ramp to aid people getting in/out on a wheelchair.

There are other cool things that enable a widespread adoption of public transport. Given the extremely wide network of buses and tubes, going from point A to point B has many different combinations that one can choose. One could use a combination of buses or buses with tube on a given line, or tubes via multiple different lines, or even add a ferry if one were to fancy that. 

The citymapper app shows the different options, with easy way of choosing to minimise the costs, time, or number of change points. In addition, any number of bus changes in a span of 1 hour is capped to ₤1.75.

Beyond Bus-Stops: A Design Culture of Clarity

This concept or choice – of clear, unambiguous, and transparent communication – spills over to many other areas too. The airport is extremely clear about where to go for immigration, baggage claim, public transport etc. – it is signposted for minimal ambiguity.

There’s a clear design-choice. Assume the person standing is new to the place (it’s an international airport!). Give information prioritising clarity and minimising need to ask another person or an information counter for it. But, don't overload with information.

The British museum too, e.g., consciously keeps the visitor in mind. It gives detailed context around a given piece of art or history, making the entire experience that much richer.

A statue of Surya, from the Pala period

The accompanying description

The introduction to the section around Odisha. “Everything vanishes with time, only a monument’s fame will last forever” - very cool quote

One of the statues from the section on Odisha

It’s a similar thought at the Museum for Science, Technology, & Industry or the Imperial War Museum too, where detailed context is laid out for the visitor to appreciate what they are viewing.

From the Science Museum, describing the engineering challenge in correctly identifying the longitude, while traveling by sea.

Bonus:

Few other images on (i) things to do at Edinburgh (ii) art installation from Liverpool (iii) one from London giving directions to, among other things, the wonderfully named Isle of Dogs

While this is from Liverpool, there are such art installations at public places in London and elsewhere

Including this image just for the imagery of Isle of Dogs

A city as big, bustling, and busy as London can get pretty overwhelming for a tourist. There are so many things to do, and it has a very wide and complex public transport network. Given all this, London’s choice in making things more visitor-centric and easier to follow makes it all the more hospitable and welcoming. It doesn’t have to but it does. And, that’s lovely.