Harry Beck's Underground map - complexity made clear
Now recognised across the world, the Tube map was originally the brainchild of Underground electrical draughtsman, Harry Beck, who produced this imaginative and beautifully simple design back in 1933.
Rather than emphasising distance and geographical accuracy, like other maps, Beck based his on the circuit diagrams he drew for his day job; stripping the sprawling Tube network down to a neat diagram of coloured, criss-crossing lines.
Beck's map was initially rejected by the publicity department because it was considered too radical but he tried again the following year and a successful trial print-run showed that it was just what the public wanted.
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