All posts tagged: HC Beck

Historical Map: Sydney Railway Layout, 1953

September 29, 2023
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Unearthed on Twitter (It’ll always be Twitter to me, no matter what Elon says) by @crossing_lights, this is quite an extraordinary find. Long-time readers may have seen the 1939 version of this diagram (and the digital recreation that I made). Here’s the thing: the general consensus has always been that this was a one-off attempt at something in the style of H.C. Beck’s newfangled London Underground diagram. I seem to recall that one theory even […]

Historical Map: Imperial Airways Diagram by H.C. Beck, 1935

October 28, 2017
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Maxwell Roberts just posted about this on Twitter, and I have to share. A bit of poking around on the Internet found a slightly better image than his, so enjoy! This is a diagram of the routes of Imperial Airways in 1935 by none other than Henry Charles Beck (yes, that H.C. Beck). I had no idea that he’d created such a diagram up until now, but it clearly bears many of the hallmarks of […]

Reader Question: Have You Seen the Interview with the Designer of the London Underground Map?

May 27, 2016
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Question: Have you seen the interview Londonist did with the designer of the new London Underground map? Really fascinating! Answer: I sure have! If anyone hasn’t seen it yet, then head over to the Londonist website and watch the interview here.  Personally, I wish it was more in-depth and technical, but that’s because I’m a total and utter transit map-making nerd who loves that kind of stuff. The interview does make a couple of very […]

Official Map – New TfL Elizabeth Line Overview Tube Map

May 18, 2016
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Thanks to Oliver O’Brien and CityMetric for finding this new Tube map that highlights the new Elizabeth Line (the line formerly known as “Crossrail”) route across London. (Side note: I think I’ll call this line the “CrossLiz” from now on, as – let’s be honest – the Queen always looks a tiny bit cranky these days.) First off, let’s examine the CrossLiz itself. Placing an entirely new line right through the centre of an already crowded […]

Video: Depot Discoveries – The Beck Map

March 11, 2016
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Here’s a little video primer about H.C. Beck’s famous Tube map, put together by the London Transport Museum’s Acton Depot. It’s a breezy little introduction to the most famous and influential transit diagram in the world, but it unfortunately repeats and perpetuates a couple of misconceptions about the map and Beck himself. (I’d expect a little better from the London Transport Museum!) At first, I even thought the initial statement that Beck was “out of work” […]

Unofficial Map: Redesigned London Underground Map by Rich Cousins

February 11, 2016
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Just to show that there’s always a different way to approach the same design problem, here’s a completely different reworked Tube Map by art director/designer, Rich Cousins. Like me, Rich seems to have reached a breaking point where all the additions to the Tube Map over the years have made him say, “there must be a better way!”, although his criteria for a successful redesign are quite different to mine. Note that this map dates back […]

Do Know of a Version of the New York Subway Map Done in a Tube Map Style?

February 10, 2016
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Somewhat surprisingly, no.  I thought perhaps that Maxwell Roberts had done one at some stage, but he’s actually done the reverse: the Tube Map in the style of the Vignelli New York subway map.  As you can see, he’s carried across the New York style of showing all the service patterns on the map. In New York, this is used to distinguish between local and express services, while in London, it reveals the secret inner […]

Project: Redrawing the Tube Map in The Style of… the Tube Map?

January 30, 2016
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What happens when I completely redraw London’s Tube Map in the style of the Tube Map? Not an alternative map, but a rigorous reconstruction of the real thing to bring it back in line with its diagrammatic roots.  Read about the project over on my design blog.

Question: Do You Have a Map of London Transit Now That TfL Have Taken Over All Suburban Rail?

January 22, 2016
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Got this question from an anonymous follower: Would you have or be able to mock up a map of what the London transit map would look like now that TfL have taken over all suburban rail traffic? For those not in the loop, Transport for London (TfL) will be bringing the operations of all the various train franchises that currently provide suburban or commuter rail service in the Greater London area under the “Overground” umbrella […]

Unofficial Map: Chicago “L” as the London Underground by Kara Fischer

January 9, 2016
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Submitted by Kara, who says: I know you’ve reflected less than favorably in the past on maps done “in the style of” the London Tube map, but here’s a piece I made redrawing Chicago’s CTA routes in the style of the current edition of London’s iconic map, complete with a hybrid TFL/CTA logo. I lovingly refer to the result as “TF-‘el’.” The style is not transcribed perfectly, I’m aware – perhaps, in light of the […]