When traveling on the subway system of New York, visual stimulation is generally limited to the advertisements up top, and the lackluster colors of the seating: orange, charcoal gray, and light blue. Its counterpart in London, however, seems to have always placed a little more emphasis on providing visual interest with the London Underground system: its history of design innovation includes Edward Johnston’s sans serif font, Harry Beck’s map and Paul Nash’s fabric. The London Underground is now opening up its future reputation to the public with a competition to re-design fabric moquettes.
Wallpaper explains the brief:
The colours should respond well to natural and artificial light (there’s even a pantone reference wheel allocating percentage allowances), the pattern must wear and tear well and the fabric must be comfortable and durable. This might sound fairly restrictive but entrants are also encouraged to challenge convention where possible, being mindful not to create a repeat pattern that’s too small to ‘dazzle’ the 3.5 million commuters who will see it each day.
The competition ends on September 14th. More details may be found here.
[via Wallpaper]
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