The genius of the London Tube Map | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED series

Translator: Krystian Aparta Reviewer: Camille Martínez

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

The history of civilization, in some ways, is a history of maps:

就某些方面來說， 文明的歷史就是地圖的歷史：

How have we come to understand the world around us?

我們如何漸漸了解我們周遭的世界？

One of the most famous maps works because it really isn't a map at all.

最有名的地圖之一，之所以很有用， 是因為它其實完全不是地圖。

[Small thing. Big idea.]

〔小東西。大點子。〕

[Michael Bierut on the London Tube Map]

〔邁克爾比魯特談倫敦地鐵地圖〕

The London Underground came together in 1908,

倫敦地鐵在 1908 年蓋好，

when eight different independent railways merged

八條不同的獨立鐵路被結合在一起

to create a single system.

成為單一運輸系統。

They needed a map to represent that system

他們需要一張地圖來呈現這個系統，

so people would know where to ride.

民眾才能知道要坐到哪裡。

The map they made is complicated.

他們做的地圖很複雜。

You can see rivers, bodies of water, trees and parks --

你會看到河流、水體、樹木、公園－

the stations were all crammed together at the center of the map,

地鐵站都擠在地圖上的中心區域，

and out in the periphery, there were some that couldn't even fit on the map.

在外圍地區，有些車站 位置甚至跟地圖不吻合。

So the map was geographically accurate, but maybe not so useful.

所以，這個地圖在地理上 是精確的，但不見得有用。

Enter Harry Beck.

哈利貝克出場了。

Harry Beck was a 29-year-old engineering draftsman

哈利貝克是二十九歲的工程繪圖員，

who had been working on and off for the London Underground.

他偶爾會為倫敦地鐵做些工作。

And he had a key insight,

他提出關鍵性的洞見，

and that was that people riding underground in trains

那就是，在地下搭火車的人，

don't really care what's happening aboveground.

其實不在乎地面上有什麼東西。

They just want to get from station to station --

他們只想從一站到達另一站－

"Where do I get on? Where do I get off?"

「我要在哪站上車？在哪站下車？」

It's the system that's important, not the geography.

重要的是系統，不是地理。

He's taken this complicated mess of spaghetti,

他把像義大利麵一樣 一團亂的複雜線路

and he's simplified it.

拿來做了簡化。

The lines only go in three directions:

線只有三個方向：

they're horizontal, they're vertical, or they're 45 degrees.

水平、垂直，或 45 度。

Likewise, he spaced the stations equally,

同樣的，他把站間的距離做平分，

he's made every station color correspond to the color of the line,

他把每個站的顏色對應到線的顏色，

and he's fixed it all so that it's not really a map anymore.

他把整張圖修過後， 其實已經算不上是地圖了。

What it is is a diagram,

它是一張示意圖，

just like circuitry,

就像電路圖，

except the circuitry here isn't wires conducting electrons,

差別只是這裡的電路圖 不是傳輸電子的電線，

it's tubes containing trains conducting people from place to place.

而是火車走的地鐵道， 把人從一個地方傳輸到另一個地方。

In 1933, the Underground decided, at last, to give Harry Beck's map a try.

1933 年，倫敦地鐵終於決定， 至少試試看哈利貝克的地圖。

The Underground did a test run of a thousand of these maps, pocket-size.

地鐵做了一千張這種地圖， 口袋大小，做為測試用。

They were gone in one hour.

一小時就被拿光了。

They realized they were onto something,

他們發現他們似乎掌握到了關鍵，

they printed 750,000 more,

於是又多印了七十五萬份，

and this is the map that you see today.

這就是你們現今看到的地圖。

Beck's design really became the template

貝克的設計變成了樣板，

for the way we think of metro maps today.

我們現今的捷運地圖都是參考它。

Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, São Paulo, Sydney, Washington, D.C. --

東京、巴黎、柏林、 聖保羅、雪黎、華盛頓特區－

all of them convert complex geography

它們都把複雜的地理

into crisp geometry.

轉變成清爽的幾何。

All of them use different colors to distinguish between lines,

它們都用不同的顏色 來區分不同的線，

all of them use simple symbols to distinguish between types of stations.

它們都用簡單的符號 來區別不同類型的站。

They all are part of a universal language, seemingly.

它們似乎都是這個 通用語言的一部分。

I bet Harry Beck wouldn't have known what a user interface was,

我打賭哈利貝克並不知道 使用者介面的概念，

but that's really what he designed

但他設計的就是使用者介面，

and he really took that challenge and broke it down to three principles

他接受了那個挑戰， 並將它分解成三條原則，

that I think can be applied in nearly any design problem.

我認為這些原則幾乎 可用於所有的設計問題。

First one is focus.

第一：聚焦。

Focus on who you're doing this for.

聚焦在你做這東西的目的上。

The second principle is simplicity.

第二條原則是簡單。

What's the shortest way to deliver that need?

達成目的最簡單的方法是什麼？

Finally, the last thing is:

最後一項原則：

Thinking in a cross-disciplinary way.

用跨學科的方式來思考。

Who would've thought that an electrical engineer

誰會想到一名電子工程師

would be the person to hold the key

會持有一把鑰匙，

to unlock what was then one of the most complicated systems in the world --

將當時世上最複雜的一個系統解鎖。

all started by one guy with a pencil and an idea.

一切都始於一個人、 一支筆、一個想法。