Well chief designer was a Brit but yes that is a fair point. I went with Concorde, rationalizing that the flag is more an evolutionary agglomeration than a conscious piece of design. It's a weak argument I know.
I mostly agreed with the crowd, but the crowd picked St. Paul's Cathedral over the Mini, and that's absurd. I've never once seen a St. Paul's Cathedral on the road, and it did not appear in either version of the Italian Job.
This is delightful. Feels like old early 2000s era click spam but the creator didn’t even bother to monetize it. The supermarine spitfire edging out that phone booth is a tough call. This honestly there is something kind of sad about the whole premise. Britain is still so stacked with talent, but it also feels like they’re getting brain drained hard and without an industrial culture to back it up a lot of this talent doesn’t get the same level of visibility as it did in a previous era.
I have lived outside the uk now for the majority of the years of I have been able to drive.
The winner was a foregone conclusion, transport signage everywhere else I’ve lived and driven extensively other than the uk is a patchwork mess that has clearly had exactly no thought put into it.
For me this was always going to end up being the Spitfire vs the Zebra crossing. But at one point I had to choose between the miniskirt and Tower Bridge and that was difficult.
Hard choices for me, I ended with the Harrier Jump Jet and the Anglepoise Lamp as my finalists.
I'm a little sad to see the exclusion of British audio equipment such as the naim Audio NAP 250!
Best of lists are always tough. In this case, is it: most iconic, most effective, most influential? I feel this way about film lists, too. The most interesting conversation is not what is the best picture, but which & how parameters are weighted: novelty, craft, cultural zeitgeist, etc.
Mallard (and the rest of the A4 class, though that blue is my favourite livery on any of them) will always be the best for me, but I do love steam locomotives. It's utterly beautiful whilst also being extremely good at its role, and that's the definition of design I believe in.
So much of modern design, particularly vehicles, is missing _something_. Maybe it's the lack of hand-rolled panels and everything being slightly too perfect, or maybe we've just lost a bit of that pizazz over the past 100 years.
Hers is quite a story. I think my favorite part of it was when she refused to marry her future husband until he had also won an award for lapping Brooklands at over 100mph on a motorbike, something she had already achieved. (Another lovely detail is that she used her racing motorbike to cross the country from airbase to airbase installing her orifices on Spitfires.)
Two interesting choices. The Tube map is on the list. It's been massively downgraded in recent years, becuase the people updating it have no appreciation of what made it great. Here's a tip; if it's not a train and it doesn't go underground then it shouldn't be on the map.
The Union Jack is another interesting choice, because these days apparently it's a racist symbol.
Angel of the North is another interesting choice, becuase i've been there and it's the most overrated, featureless lump of metal ever. Cool that they made it I guess, but they could have done more imho.
Surprised myself a bit with the pillar post box being my winner.
I love the British phone box too, but I think because my childhood neighbourhood was built in the 80s I never really saw the traditional red phone boxes when I was young. They were all these, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KX_telephone_boxes
The post boxes are lovely though and remind me of my England more than any of the others.
In this bracket my choice invariably comes down to the Spitfire versus the Mini, and I always favor the Spitfire, as the Mini reminds me of the terrible parking
> 64 icons. Six rounds. One winner.
The winner is Claude
That is pretty standard sports/quiz show announcer tone, is it not?
Concorde vs. the Union Flag? In the round of 64? Bah. Impossible to continue.
EDIT Agh now Range Rover v Mini? What do you want from me!?
Voting for a anglo-FRENCH design above the union flag! No contest there (despite the Concorde being a great bit of kit).
Well chief designer was a Brit but yes that is a fair point. I went with Concorde, rationalizing that the flag is more an evolutionary agglomeration than a conscious piece of design. It's a weak argument I know.
I mostly agreed with the crowd, but the crowd picked St. Paul's Cathedral over the Mini, and that's absurd. I've never once seen a St. Paul's Cathedral on the road, and it did not appear in either version of the Italian Job.
This is delightful. Feels like old early 2000s era click spam but the creator didn’t even bother to monetize it. The supermarine spitfire edging out that phone booth is a tough call. This honestly there is something kind of sad about the whole premise. Britain is still so stacked with talent, but it also feels like they’re getting brain drained hard and without an industrial culture to back it up a lot of this talent doesn’t get the same level of visibility as it did in a previous era.
I have lived outside the uk now for the majority of the years of I have been able to drive.
The winner was a foregone conclusion, transport signage everywhere else I’ve lived and driven extensively other than the uk is a patchwork mess that has clearly had exactly no thought put into it.
Here's my chart: https://best-of-british-design.vercel.app/#r=R_D4nrm510s
For me this was always going to end up being the Spitfire vs the Zebra crossing. But at one point I had to choose between the miniskirt and Tower Bridge and that was difficult.
Hard choices for me, I ended with the Harrier Jump Jet and the Anglepoise Lamp as my finalists. I'm a little sad to see the exclusion of British audio equipment such as the naim Audio NAP 250!
Pretty cool, but it always ends on Spitfire vs Mini and I don't know how you decide.
I heard you can put a Merlin in a Mini if you remove the front seats
Easier to buy a classic mini and drive it around than a spitfire.
mini FTW
Damn, quite some brutal matchups! My eternal champion spits fire, runner-up is the Mini. :)
Spitfire or the Underground chart?
Wisdom says underground but the heart screams Spitfire.
https://transitmap.net/tate-underground/
I ended up with two bridges in the final which is quite strange for the owner of an IT firm, but I did study Civ Eng, 27 years ago.
Best of lists are always tough. In this case, is it: most iconic, most effective, most influential? I feel this way about film lists, too. The most interesting conversation is not what is the best picture, but which & how parameters are weighted: novelty, craft, cultural zeitgeist, etc.
Not many things make me feel particularly patriotic, but this is doing a pretty good job
McLaren P1 should be on that list
Spitfire vs Concorde in my final, and Concorde won.
The winner is teapot. 2nd is mini skirt
Mallard (and the rest of the A4 class, though that blue is my favourite livery on any of them) will always be the best for me, but I do love steam locomotives. It's utterly beautiful whilst also being extremely good at its role, and that's the definition of design I believe in.
So much of modern design, particularly vehicles, is missing _something_. Maybe it's the lack of hand-rolled panels and everything being slightly too perfect, or maybe we've just lost a bit of that pizazz over the past 100 years.
Really enjoyed this, well done
UK road signs won for me. Something about the type-face, colours and design.
Spitfire. All day every day. Just don't forget Miss Schilling's orifice.
Hers is quite a story. I think my favorite part of it was when she refused to marry her future husband until he had also won an award for lapping Brooklands at over 100mph on a motorbike, something she had already achieved. (Another lovely detail is that she used her racing motorbike to cross the country from airbase to airbase installing her orifices on Spitfires.)
Two interesting choices. The Tube map is on the list. It's been massively downgraded in recent years, becuase the people updating it have no appreciation of what made it great. Here's a tip; if it's not a train and it doesn't go underground then it shouldn't be on the map.
The Union Jack is another interesting choice, because these days apparently it's a racist symbol.
Angel of the North is another interesting choice, becuase i've been there and it's the most overrated, featureless lump of metal ever. Cool that they made it I guess, but they could have done more imho.
Surprised myself a bit with the pillar post box being my winner.
I love the British phone box too, but I think because my childhood neighbourhood was built in the 80s I never really saw the traditional red phone boxes when I was young. They were all these, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KX_telephone_boxes
The post boxes are lovely though and remind me of my England more than any of the others.
Same winner, and I've never bren to Great Britain. I do not like these. I prefer tier lists where a lot of these would be S tier.
In this bracket my choice invariably comes down to the Spitfire versus the Mini, and I always favor the Spitfire, as the Mini reminds me of the terrible parking
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