{"id":8239,"date":"2016-12-27T14:30:09","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T19:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=8239"},"modified":"2017-04-24T05:42:47","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T09:42:47","slug":"short-history-london-underground-sign-sixth-smartsign-blog-series-famous-signs-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/short-history-london-underground-sign-sixth-smartsign-blog-series-famous-signs-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"A short history on the London Underground sign: Sixth in a SmartSign blog series on famous signs and their origins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bar and disc used by Transport for London is quite possibly Britain\u2019s most identifiable transportation symbol, as well as cultural icon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The logo, which was created in 1905, started out as a bar crossing through a wheel, with wings to symbolize the city\u2019s newly motorized buses. Three years later, this was changed to a bar and disc (which is what still exists today), in order to make station names more recognizable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-8240 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_536278966-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"389\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_536278966-3.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_536278966-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/shutterstock_536278966-3-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 389px) 100vw, 389px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 1913, Chief Executive of London Transport, Frank Pick, commissioned a typographer to design a typeface for the company. The roundel was eventually altered to go with the new lettering and integrate the Underground logo. The red disc was changed to a circle and this became the new trademarked logo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Underground Group was renamed the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, which prompted a requested change to the existing symbol because the new name would simply be too long to fit on the roundel. This did not gain much support, as the symbol had become widely popular and people didn\u2019t want to see it changed. Eventually, the decision was made to abbreviate the name to \u201cL.P.T.B. Underground\u201d in order to accommodate the symbol. The name was later changed to London Transport.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The London Underground sign is so unique due to the fact that it is one of the few signs that represent a city, a place, and a transportation network all at the same time. It is a marker that every citizen in London is proud to identify with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The bar and disc used by Transport for London is quite possibly Britain\u2019s most identifiable transportation symbol, as well as cultural icon. The logo, which was created in 1905, started out as a bar crossing through a wheel, with wings to symbolize the city\u2019s newly motorized buses. Three years later, this was changed to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[531,484,653,651,652],"class_list":["post-8239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-design","tag-logo","tag-london","tag-london-transport","tag-london-underground","tag-transportation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A short history on the London Underground sign: Sixth in a SmartSign blog series on famous signs and their origins | SmartSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/short-history-london-underground-sign-sixth-smartsign-blog-series-famous-signs-origins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A short history on the London Underground sign: Sixth in a SmartSign blog series on famous signs and their origins | SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The bar and disc used by Transport for London is quite possibly Britain\u2019s most identifiable transportation symbol, as well as cultural icon. 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