TfL competition celebrates off-centre sights

Alex Jeffries is the winner of Transport for London’s poster design competition to promote outlying areas of the capital.

Jeffries has won The Outer Limits – Beyond Zone One competition with his London Lidos design, inspired by Tooting Bec Lido in south London, which references the colours of the capital’s Tube lines.

The competition was set up by TfL, the London Transport Museum, London Design Festival and Visit London to ‘celebrate the discoveries, pleasures and excitements that London has to offer beyond the city centre’, according to the organisers.

Jeffries, an engineer at Nissan Design, says he considered a number of options before settling on Tooting Bec Lido for inspiration, including the 2012 Olympics, Walthamstow Stadium and the Ealing Jazz Festival. He says, ‘I went up and had a look at Tooting Bec Lido, and really liked the Art Deco effect of all the huts lined up. After working on ideas such as getting the Tube lines flowing through the diving board, I settled on using the colours in the huts.’

Jeffries says the colours of the sea and the sky were inspired by photographs he took while on his honeymoon in the Caribbean last year.

As the winner of the competition, Jeffries’ poster will become part of the London Transport Museum’s collection and will be used on the London transport network.
Second prize goes to Christian Statham for his Two Wheels Good design, inspired by another south London landmark, in this case Herne Hill Velodrome.

Statham, a Web projects designer for the University of the Arts London, created a poster which references the work of Charles Sharland and Walter Spradbery.
He says, ‘I’m a bit nostalgic for the “golden era” of travel in the 1920s and 1930s and the “great escape” to the suburbs that seemed to be on the mind of every Londoner with free time. I also felt the summery freedom of cycling seemed to capture that romantic idea quite well.’

Dan Norris, of west London-based consultancy Parker Morris Design, has picked up the third prize with his London The Best Bits design. Unlike the first- and second-placed designs, Norris takes inspiration not from one particular place, but from the concept of the ‘outer ring’ of London as being like a doughnut. His pink and yellow design carries the strapline ‘London – the best bits aren’t always in the middle’.

He says, ‘I tried to create an eye-catching poster suggesting an alternative London outside the main central areas and landmarks – keeping it fresh and fun.’

The competition was judged by Clive Birch, from the Royal College of Art’s School of Design for Production; Dr Paul Rennie, from Central St Martins College of Art and Design; Will Knight, deputy director of the London Design Festival; Saskia Boersma, brand manager of TfL; Jon Hunter, head of design at TfL; Michael Walton, head of trading at the London Transport Museum; Julie Dixon, head of stakeholder engagement at TfL; Julie Chappell, head of media at Visit London; and Design Week editor Lynda Relph-Knight.

The three winners will feature in an exhibition at the London Transport Museum, The Outer Limits – Beyond Zone One, which will run from 19 September to 9 October. The exhibition will also showcase 17 other entries to the competition.