Beck, Harry C.

Harry Beck was the inventor of the iconic "circuit diagram" London Underground tube map, from which the public transportation network maps of most major cities around the world today are derived. Henry Charles Beck, a technical draughtsman working for London Transport, is famous for having created the topological presentation of today's underground map in 1931. Famously, the map wasn't commissioned, but was created in his spare time by the then-29 year old engineering draughtsman. Beck's diagram was initially turned down for being "too revolutionary" by the London Passenger Transport Board. A second proposal resulted in a trial edition of 500 copies of the map being published in 1933. The uncluttered and functional design was an instant hit with a travelling public who had found earlier tube maps busy and confusing. Beck's innovation was to realise that it wasn't important to show relative distances between stations when you are travelling underground, but instead to show the connections clearly. He therefore enlarged the congested central area and contracted the length of the lines to the outer suburbs, and a design classic was born. Beck's diagrammatic approach has since been copied by almost every major city around the world.

More information

Beck, Harry C.

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan diagram. Green Metropolitan Line. BECK #1 1943

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. Aylesbury. South Acton. HARRY BECK. March 1955

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. South Acton. Aylesbury. Ongar. HARRY BECK 1956

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan diagram. 33-3636 HARRY BECK. December 1933

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan diagram. Lines at 60 degrees HARRY BECK #2 1941

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan diagram. Middle Circle. HARRY BECK #2 1934

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. Central Line extension to Stratford. BECK 1946

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. Alexandra Palace. South Acton. HARRY BECK 1950

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan No South Acton. Aylesbury Ongar HARRY BECK 1959

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan diagram. Final HARRY BECK edition 1960

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map diagram of lines. Middle Circle. HARRY BECK #2 1936

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map diagram. Cheap Evening Return Fares. HARRY BECK 1953

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan diagram. HARRY BECK. 33-2791 September 1933

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. South Acton. Aylesbury. Ongar. HARRY BECK 1956

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. Addison/Uxbridge Rd - Middle Circle. BECK 1945

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. Paper edition. No gridlines. HARRY BECK 1956

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube plan map diagram. Middle Circle. HARRY BECK #1 1935

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. Middle Circle. Addison/Uxbridge Rd. BECK 1945

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube plan map diagram. Middle Circle. HARRY BECK #2 1934

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube plan map diagram. Middle Circle. HARRY BECK #1 1937

LONDON UNDERGROUND tube map plan. Epping - Ongar. South Acton. HARRY BECK 1951

SITE INFORMATION

SERVICE & SUPPORT

DELIVERY & RETURNS

CONTACT