Harry Beck

Henry Charles "Harry" Beck (born June 4, 1902 in London , † September 18, 1974 in Southampton ) was a British technical draftsman and graphic designer . His most famous work is the Subway map Subway London Underground (the so-called tube map ), the topographical accuracy with the waiver allowed a very clear presentation. Each line was represented by its own line, which only runs horizontally, vertically or diagonally at a 45 ° angle. This model served as a model for network plans in many other cities.

Life

Conventional London Underground Map 1926

Paris metro map modeled on Harry Beck

In 1933 Beck was working as a draftsman in the London Underground's signals department. At that time, line network maps were common, on which the lines were shown topographically correctly, often on the basis of a city map. As a result, the stations in the center were very close to one another, but those in the suburbs were very far apart. Beck was convinced that a map of the underground did not necessarily require topographical accuracy. In his opinion, the passenger wants to know how to get from one station to another and where to transfer from one line to another. In his opinion, only the topology , i.e. the spatial relationship between the stations, was decisive.

So in his spare time he began to design a line network map that was similar to an electrical circuit diagram and on which the stations were shown at the same distance from one another. Beck himself never said that this was the inspiration for his idea. But his work colleagues drew his attention to the similarity and even drew a cartoon in which the stations were replaced by symbols from electrical circuits and terms from electrical engineering were used (for example, Bakelite for the Bakerloo Line ). Beck refined his design; the plan consisted only of the labeled stations and straight lines that run either horizontally, vertically or at a diagonal 45 ° angle. In this regard, he is considered to be the pioneer or inventor of a pure route plan for subways in a clear design.

London Underground initially reacted skeptically to the plan and viewed it merely as a leisure activity for a simple employee. Nevertheless, as a trial, the plan was printed in a small edition and distributed to the passengers. It immediately proved to be a great success. Beck initially made updates to his plan as a freelancer, but over time the London Underground marketing department hired other graphic artists to do so. In 1947 Beck realized that he had lost control of his work and quit. He then taught typography and color design at the London School of Printing and Kindred Trades (now the London College of Communication ).

After Beck was denied recognition for a long time, the London Regional Transport transport authority set up a gallery with his works in the London Transport Museum in the early 1990s . In the Finchley Central station , near which Beck once lived, a memorial plaque commemorates him, together with a facsimile of the original plan from 1933. On the network plans published by Transport for London today, Beck is again recognized as the inventor of the original design.

Reception on television

• In the television program The Culture Show on BBC Two in March 2006, Beck's route network was voted the second most popular British design of the 20th century after Concorde .
• Mentioned several times in London's megatunnel - project of superlatives (OT: The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway ). Documentary, Great Britain, 2014-, 5 episodes, 177 min., By: Joby Lobmann, production: windfallfilms, BBC Two, original first broadcast: from 16 Jul. 2014 on BBC Two , German first broadcast: from 17 Jan 2019 on cable one documentation

literature

• Ken Garland: Mr Beck's Underground Map . Capital Transport, Harrow Weald 1994. ISBN 1-85414-168-6 .

Web links

• Beck, Henry (Harry) on Exploring 20th century London