I have a lifelong interest in design and the decorative arts. My additional interest in transit maps was intensified with increasing disappointment at official designs being released in London. It is therefore
no surprise that, with my innate desire to explore and experiment, I would begin to engage creatively.
My background in cognitive psychology has laid firm foundations for specialising in information design, aiming for implementations that are easy to understand and use. To ensure the attainment of this goal, design and research go hand-in-hand and, from these, I have evolved a framework for effective design and a taxonomy of schematic map design rules in order to organise my thinking. There are also links to major commissioned projects, along with my work designing my own web pages and books.
At the end of this page are direct-download links for two short articles from my writing pages which
talk about issues directly relevant to research: one article about the need to define AI in order to help understand what current systems can and cannot do; and the other talking about a recent update to
my famous London Concentric Circles and Spokes Underground map.
A cornerstone of my usability research has been the production of systematically designed maps for subsequent testing. This section provides an overview of my design philosophy, methodology and workflow that I have evolved.
Sietske de Groot of TradePeers Ltd. invited me to investigate the application of the transit map metaphor to visualise issues faced
by businesses preparing for Brexit. Twelve regional UK maps were created and, subsequently, extensively used for training.
I was approached by Aberfield PLC on behalf of firstdirect bank
to apply the transit map metaphor to show the different financial journeys of four generations. This project was undertaken jointly
with TradePeers Ltd. under the guise of Info Design Central.
The first Tube Map Central web page went live in 2005, evolving haphazardly for twelve years. I therefore undertook a complete revamp which was completed in summer 2017.
Two of my books, Underground Maps Unravelled and Tube Map Travels were entirely designed and laid out by myself using Adobe InDesign. Underground Maps Unravelled was also self-published.
My art maps and historical reconstructions require authentic
lettering and, when suitable fonts are not available off-the-
shelf, I create my own.
Roberts, M.J. (2024).
Artificial Intelligence:
The harder you try to define it the more you understand it.
Short article first published on LinkedIn.
Artificial Intelligence is difficult to define but the various attempts over
the decades can be placed in one of three categories: task-based, behaviour- based and process-based. A perfect definition of Artificial Intelligence might be difficult or impossible to attain, but the very act of attempting to formulate one increases our understanding.
Roberts, M.J. (2024).
Round in Circles and Back Again:
Updating my London Underground Concentric Circles and Spokes Map
Short article first published on LinkedIn.
I talk about my London Concentric Circles and Spokes Map: why and how
I created the original back in January 2013, what I learnt from it and why
I returned to the design in July 2024 to update it. I also talk about how my information design priorities have changed with time.