Attempts to design an Underground Map began as early as 1908. As London expanded this endeavour became more difficult. Bearing in mind that London is an amalgamation of villages, not a simple grid or radial city like New York or Paris, creating a functional map was challenging.
Problems with Early Maps of London's Underground
Cartographers created geographical representations of London for early Underground maps. A sense of relative distance and accurate direction were considered, with few exceptions, essential. Additionally, London's landmarks were often included. So, whilst the suburbs were far apart, central London was represented as highly constricted with stations close together, confusing passengers.
By 1925 some difficulties were resolved, particularly by F. H. Stingemore's design. Here, outlying suburbs were compressed and surface detail eliminated, but central constriction remained problematic.
Harry Beck's Diagram of the London Underground
In 1931 Harry Beck, a 29-year-old unemployed engineering draughtsman, produced his first sketch of the Diagram which would become the well-loved map of the London Underground.
Having been made redundant from the Underground Group, Beck nevertheless made a presentation visual from this initial sketch and, in 1931 presented it to their Publicity Department. It was rejected as too 'revolutionary'.
Beck was re-employed by the Underground Group in 1932 and re-presented his Diagram. To his delight it was accepted and in January 1933 a first edition folding card of 750,000 was printed. It was an instant success, and big business for the new controlling authority, London Passenger Transport Board.
Beck was paid a meagre £10.50 for the design and artwork of the Diagram and a mere £5.25 for the subsequent poster artwork.
Significance of Beck's London Underground Diagram
Important features of Harry Beck's London Underground diagram are:
- simplification of route lines to verticals, horizontals or diagonals;
- expansion of central London area;
- like an electrical circuit diagram, it was schematic, not geographical;
- elimination of all surface detail except the Thames.
Beck recognised that travellers underground have one aim - to get from one place to another. The traveller's mindset is restricted to this singular necessity. The commuter needs a diagram, not a traditional map, to reflect this need. Beck's Diagram minimises the anxiety caused by underground travel.
One surface feature was incorporated into Beck's Diagram - the River Thames. Beck's biographer, Ken Garland, notes that in an informal questionnaire taken in 1968, all Tube travellers found the inclusion of the Thames a useful feature. It remains a reassuring, organic reminder of life above ground.
Harry Beck Underground Map Gains Recognition
Although retained by the London Passenger Transport Board, Beck remained a 'temp' draughtsman until 1937. This meant he was in the unfortunate position of being both freelancer and employee. His designer status was ambiguous and he was constantly defending his creation against badly conceived alterations. The copyright was the Board's, but Beck believed he held the right to oversee changes.
Beck left London Transport in 1947to teach at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts. He was happy there, yet devastated by his exclusion from the redesign of his Diagram to incorporate the Victoria Line. It was a bitter blow.
Today Harry Beck's design is recognised as a work of graphic genius.
Legacy of Beck's London Underground Map
The following features show how Harry Beck's Underground Map has become part of London's culture:
- adopted by most global transport systems;
- constantly upgraded without losing its essential simplicity;
- 20th century graphic design phenomenon and artistic icon;
- produced in varying formats over 60 million times globally;
- London Transport Museum has a Beck gallery;
- Finchley Underground, Beck's home station, has a commemorative plaque.
Beck's optimistic vision forms the basis of today's Journey Planner, a functional name for a deceptively simple idea by a designer of persistence and integrity.
Source:
- Mr Beck's Underground Map: A History by Ken Garland (Capital Transport, 1998)
See Also:
- Stress on the London Underground - explores the idea that fear of going underground is embedded in human consciousness through culture and myth.
- The Invention of London's A-Z Map - short biography of Phyllis Pearsall and her struggle to create the London A-Z street map.
- The Image of the Miner in Art - examines why there are so few high art paintings of miners at work underground, and how miners themselves are probably their own best artistic representatives.
