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| Map A: Geographic |
Voice-over
The design of the London Tube map is
brilliant in its simplicity. It does not show the stations’ geographic
relations above ground but rather their connective relations below ground. The
approaches to map design could be characterized as spaghetti (Map A) vs loosely
gridded (Map B).
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| Map B: Connective |
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Back
Story
Eduardo: Harry Beck, who
designed the original London Tube map was called Map Man in a BBC2 documentary.
Max: He is credited as its
chief architect?
Eduardo: He wasn’t an
architect, he worked as a draftsman for London Transport and suggested the
original schematic diagram in 1931.
Max: And the public loved
it.
Eduardo: They did but the
publicity office at London Transport never actually commissioned Beck’s map and
only accepted it as his voluntary experiment.
Max: Another uncredited
originator?
Eduardo: By all accounts he
only received five or ten pounds but they eventually did put his name on it.
And there are plaques at Finchley Central Station and outside the house he lived in
commemorating him.
Max: So he eventually
felt vindicated?
Eduardo: He defended the aesthetics of his vision. The verticals, the diagonals, the even distances between stations. And he didn’t take kindly to
modifications to the design.
Max: Some designers can be
protective and proprietorial about their visions.
…
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