This self-directed project evolved after I was approached by a market research company working on behalf of TFL. They wanted to talk to disabled travellers about their experiences of using the underground. A key theme in there questioning was - what is it (apart from physical barriers) that stops disabled people from using the underground?

There are many factors but communication struck me as a problem: What stations are accessible? The current LU maps are a mindfield of shades of grey - access to station but not to platform, access to platform but not level-access to train, access northbound but not southbound. What was needed was clarity. Either the whole station is totally accessible or not at all. This became the central principle of the design

The second principle was a more personal one. As a wheelchair user I feel mixed emotions regarding the invasion of sometimes poor design due to the need for access and access information. Looking at Beck’s London Underground map I feel disappointment that the use of disabled icons are beginning to break the language and erode the simplicity of the design.

The response to these criteria was a stripping out of all stations and lines without comprehensive disabled access. in doing so the need for disabled symbols is removed and Beck’s original language is reinstated. The design becomes far clearer for the disabled traveller. It also acts as a stark message regarding the lack of disabled access to the Underground system & access within the capital in general.