Mr Beck`s Underground Map

Product Description

Mr Beck`s Underground Map by Kan Garl&, published by Capital Transport in association with the London Transport Museum, charts how what for most Londoners is one of the most iconic images connected with the city, Harry Beck’s diagram of the Underground network, was first produced in 1933 & then evolved during the designer’s work for London Transport until 1960. Commissioned to encourage travel on the Underground following the organization’s poor financial results in the beginning of the 1930s, Harry Beck, then a junior draughtsman, used his previously dismissed suggestion of adopting a diagrammatic presentation based on straight lines. It was liked by the public &, although no one has ever measured its commercial value to the Underground, the successors of his design are still used every day by the Londoners & in many cities worldwide. The book is illustrated with examples of not only how the initial design changed following the expansion of the network but also with numerous sketches prepared to find the best solutions to problems presented by interchanges, etc. The story of the London Underground map in the hands of Harry Beck’s successors is explored in “ Underground Maps After Beck” by Maxwell J. Roberts