Research: London Underground Map

The original London Underground maps were overlaid onto scale maps of the city. Although there were benefits to this system as it showed exactly where the routes would take you, it wasn’t the most practical design. The close proximity of stations in the centre of London means that it is cramped in the middle of the map, and the rest seems too large.

Harry Beck was an engineering draughtsman at the Signals Office who proposed a new design for the map in 1931. The Underground Group’s draughtsman Fred Stingemore had been finding it increasingly difficult to fit new line and station in geographically, until Beck reworked the map based on diagrams of electrical circuits.

He stated that it was his desire to ‘tidy it up by straightening the lines, experimenting with diagonals and evening out the distances between stations’. The new design proved to be a great success and similar maps are now used for rail services around the world, including the Paris and New York Metros.  

Harry Beck

Original Tube Map

Beck's First Published Design

Bibliography

20^th Century London. (no date) Beck, Henry (Harry) [Online]. Available from: http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/server.php?show=conInformationRecord.67 [Accessed 9^th February 2012]

Make Mass Air. (no date) design:London Underground, maps, geographical and anagrams [Online]. Available from: http://www.makemassair.co.uk/stuff/design-london-underground-maps-geographical-and-anagrams/ [Accessed 9^th February 2012]