InfoGr: London Underground Map (3)

[Ian McLaren]

   * Harry Beck would have been amused *   (discussion issue)

     message by:  Ian McLaren


Dear Dennis

I received a copy of your request for details of the recently 
released London Underground map.

I noticed the event in my own newspaper (The Guardian), and prompted 
by your request have obtained the Times piece also, and would be 
pleased to mail copies to you if you provide your address etc (they 
would not fax well as they are nearly A3 in size - though the text 
might be OK).

I attach the text of a piece which I wrote last year for a graphic 
arts magazine here called Baseline (see below). It is worth getting 
hold of a copy because some of the illustrations are quite fun; 
especially a composite photo which I had taken to illustrate the 
wealth of tourist items spawned by Beck's design.

I hope it is apparent that the article was intended as a rather 
jocular counterbalance to Ken Garland's messianic book (good though 
it is). 

If you want the addresses of relevant people within London Transport
I can provide these. The most knowledgeable person is Tim Demuth, 
and there is a curator at the London Transport Museum.

If there are any opportunities in the US for either publication 
of the attached (reworked if necessary); or for a joint piece or 
conference presentation, I would love to hear about same. 

May I in turn ask your advice? I am translating a charming book 
by an eminent French cartographer on what I would describe as the 
creative potential of computer assisted cartography. I would 
welcome a discussion on the relative merits of possible American 
'carto-graphic' publishers. 

Hoping to hear from you shortly
Best wishes

Ian McLaren
____________________________________________________________________


* Harry Beck would have been amused *

(C) Ian McLaren 1996

When I was a student at what was then the London School of Printing 
and Graphic Arts one of our tutors was Harry Beck. During 1958-59 
I attended his course on the history of type. The majority of my 
colleagues and I were intrigued by his signature on the London 
Underground diagram; but he was extremely reticent about his part 
in this; which we callous youths found excessively modest, and even 
a little perverse. He deftly and with great charm deflected our 
constant probing. This only added to the allure of the mystery; 
and we sensed that much remained to be said. The story of the 
subsequently unhappy relationship between Harry Beck and his 
colleagues at London Transport has been chronicled sensitively 
by Ken Garland (1). This would presumably not have troubled Beck 
severely at the time of our acquaintance; as the rupture came in 
1960, on the publication of Hutchison's inelegant reworking of 
Beck's design. My aim here is to complement Garland's excellent 
history by providing a description of some of the more unlikely 
applications of the diagram; and to suggest that Harry Beck would 
have been gratified at the continued overwhelming acceptance of his 
original concept and the unexpected products to which his design 
has been applied.

The diagram was conceived in 1931; but was not accepted until 
January 1933. It was an immediate success with the public; and was 
almost immediately reprinted (with a larger print run, of 100,000 
copies) a mere month after initial publication (illustration 1).

Ken Garland refers to Beck's sense of humour. He reproduces the 
witty short article entitled "The Underground straight eight 
all-electric skit-set circuit diagram" attributed to Beck 
(illustration 2). This dates to March 1933 - just two months after 
the first publication of his rightly famous design. Garland also 
quotes correspondence from Bryce Beaumont concerning his 
recollections of working in the same office as Harry Beck during 
the thirties. Beaumont gives an eloquent and detailed description 
of Beck's imaginative sense of humour.

DESIGN MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGICAL UPDATING 
Garland has provided a definitive account of the evolution of the 
design; and the difficulties which Beck experienced in retaining 
control over the concept as the network evolved and expanded. 
However, one of the unsung heroes of the story of the evolution of 
the diagram in recent years must be Tim Demuth at London Transport's
Publicity Department. He has had extensive experience of nurturing 
the map, having produced four different revisions in the past, 
initially with Paul Garbutt during 1964; and has nursed the diagram 
through some of is most radical surgery, to include the Cross Rail, 
Docklands Light Railway, Jubilee Line, and Thameslink; and proposed 
extensions of the Metropolitan Line and East London Line. None of 
these appear in Beck's last design of 1964, but have been included 
in a manner which retains the inherent character of Beck's concept. 

London Transport introduced in July 1990 a 'new' diagram for the 
Underground network. This was in the tradition of Beck's design, but
produced by very different means (illustration 3). Beck's original 
version was sketched in a school exercise book; and subsequently 
worked up into artwork for reproduction, where every line was drawn 
by hand, and every station name and the key were hand lettered. 
Over a period of more than twenty years Beck continued to produce 
numerous versions, keeping pace with the development of the 
Underground system. He would presumably have loved to have had 
available to him the technology which permitted the current version 
of his original concept.

This now permits Demuth to store the entire diagram on a single 
floppy disc, which he can manipulate on an Apple Macintosh. In this 
way he and the cartographers Lovell Johns can produce the many 
variations of the map required in a fraction of the time which Harry
Beck would have needed to produce a single drawing. Currently there 
are at least sixteen different versions required for reproduction in
commercial diaries; and even London Transport themselves requires 
three versions for their own use, as posters, pocket folders, and 
in their own publications. Demuth's redesign of 1990 was the most 
extensive revision of the map to be undertaken for a number of 
years: (and not, as the Times misquoted at the time the most 
"expensive"!) 

Beck's design had to accommodate only eight tube lines during the 
thirties; today's Underground system requires fourteen. The previous
version of the diagram had contained ten lines. Two additional tube 
lines (The East London, and the Hammersmith and City) were added in 
Demuth's 1990 design; and provision made for the extensions of the 
Jubilee Line, and the Docklands Light Railway, to run to Beckton. 

Simultaneously digitisation of the diagram brought a number of 
benefits apart from portability. These make life for Demuth and 
his colleagues considerably less tedious. One of the banes of any 
cartographer's or map designer's life is the extremely tedious and 
pernickety task of annotation, in this case of station names. The 
difficulty is to place station names adjacent to the corresponding 
symbol, within the congested confines of the central part of the 
diagram. Demuth states that it has taken him approximately ten years
to resolve the form and annotation of the Kings Cross area.

One of the advantages of any computer graphics system is that one 
can create standard details, such as the three different symbols 
required to denote different types of stations, together with their 
associated annotation; and to place these as complete components. 
This ensures consistency between symbols and attendant annotation. 
Traditional paste-up required considerable dexterity to ensure 
consistency in every configuration. Now that much of the tedium has 
been taken out of the process of making the master drawing, Demuth 
has been able to concentrate upon ensuring that the revised design 
retains the integrity of the 'iconic' form of the diagram, despite 
the considerable increase in the complexity of the network 
(illustration 4).

Indeed one wonders whether even a draughtsman as skilled as Beck 
would have been able to deal with the complexity of the present 
network without the benefits of a computer graphics system. A 
comparison for example of the details of the area between Baker 
Street and Westbourne Park contained in Beck's original, with the 
current version, reveals the complexity of detail which now has to 
be contended with.

While coping with more complex information, Demuth has been able 
also to improve on some of the topographic inaccuracies of Beck's 
original. It is well known that one of Beck's innovations was to 
distort the scale of the central part of the diagram, which results 
in the area contained within the Circle Line being depicted 
relatively larger than the peripheral areas. While this enhances 
the clarity of the densest part of the diagram, it does of course 
distort some of the topographic relationships of various stations. 
Demuth has been able to improve upon Beck's plan in this respect. If
one compares the area defined by Baker Street, Euston, Embankment, 
and Victoria; in Demuth's design these have a closer correspondence 
with their geographic positions than is the case with Beck's 
original. Demuth has "opened up" the central area, which despite 
the need to add two completely new routes within it (Victoria Line, 
and Hammersmith and City Line) has provided greater clarity 
(illustration 4). Demuth has also depicted the Thames more 
sympathetically, particularly in the Docklands area.

A feature of the revised design which Demuth may be justifiable 
proud of is that it will no longer be necessary for London Transport
to stock three different 'base' designs as was the case in the past. 
Formerly the differing proportions of the poster, pocket folder, and
diary formats required a different master drawing for each. For the 
first time a single design accommodates each of these applications 
in a single master. This has been achieved in part by the necessity 
to reduce the amount of space allocated to the western boundary of 
the diagram, in order to reintroduce the Cross Rail line. As a 
consequence the design appears slightly larger than previously when 
applied as the pocket folder. 

One is bound to admire the deftness with which the conflicting 
demands of geography, Becks's concept, the increase in the number 
of lines, and new technology, have been reconciled. Perhaps because 
of one's familiarity with the London Underground diagram, at first 
glance one is not struck by the novelty of the latest version. 
Indeed this is probably as it should be, if the integrity of the 
design is to be maintained. Close examination however reveals that 
the redesign deserves greater recognition. It is not easy to improve 
upon a classic, but Tim Demuth has managed to achieve this. 

A COMMERCIAL ASSET AND CONSUMER ITEM
Beck's design is acknowledged today by London Transport to be a 
valuable commercial asset, which is carefully protected in law. 
One of the series of design guidelines produced by London Transport 
is devoted to the protection of their intellectual property rights 
(IPR) (2). This refers to three key assets; of which the Beck 
diagram is listed as the third (after the Johnston alphabet and 
London Transport roundel). David Ellis, who is responsible for 
administering the intellectual property rights of London Transport 
acknowledges freely that Beck's design is their "strongest IPR 
asset". Ellis attributes this to the strength of the original 
design; and the efforts made to retain the purity of the initial 
concept. The latter is no mean feat, requiring a mixture of 
sustained design management and graphic skill.

While Beck would have been aware of the popularity of his design 
with the public; he could hardly have anticipated that it should 
evolve into a major earner for London Transport, and indeed a 
variety of British manufacturers and exporters.

By doing so his design contributes significantly to the revenues 
of the London Transport Museum; and is the basis of several 
manufacturers product lines and marketing policies. Beck's design, 
through the licences from the revenues for these products helps 
helps to support the maintenance of the Museum's collection; and 
the design heritage of London Transport, and by extension of London 
itself.

Harry Beck could not have guessed at the range of items to which 
his design has been applied; and the international influence he has 
undoubtedly had upon the design of other public transport network 
diagrams. Today one can eat and drink; clothe and entertain oneself,
and sleep and bathe, all using products based upon Beck's design. 
Similarly one can detect his influence upon the design of public 
transport diagrams from as far afield as New York and Tokyo. 
Beck's design was originally conceived as a purely informative 
visualisation of the London Underground network; and appeared in the
now customary form of a pocket folder (illustration 2). It was also 
adopted in poster format (quad royal) in March 1933. These items 
have remained in use, in various modified forms continuously during 
the intervening 63 years. It is employed in numerous forms of London
Transport's publicity, and is available in braille (illustration 5) 
and large print versions. The latter also contains an indication of 
which stations are accessible by wheelchair. 

Over the years numerous commercial organisations have continued 
to purchase licences to reproduce the diagram in diaries and 
guidebooks. The diagram is reproduced over 60 million times each 
year by companies other than London Transport; who produce a 
surprising array of items ranging from aprons to wash bags 
(illustration 6). One of the earliest souvenir items was as a 
postcard, but today the map is used on or associated with many 
different items, which include:

Aprons, alarm clocks
Bags, Bermuda shorts, business cards, board games, books, boots, 
    bow ties, boxer shorts, braces
Coasters, computer software, crochet patterns
Diaries, digital maps, duvet covers
Enamel signs
Fridge magnets
Guide books
Hats
Ironing board covers
Jigsaws
Key rings, kimonos
Letterheads
Maps, money boxes, mouse mats, mugs
Note books
Oven gloves
Pencil cases, pens, pillow cases, playing cards, posters
Quizzes
Roller ball pens
Shopping bags, shoes, sketch pads, slippers, soaps, socks, 
    stationery
Tea cozies, tea towels, tee shirts, ties, towels, trays
Umbrellas
Videos, vests
Wash bags, wrapping paper
(e)Xercise books
Yellow pages
Z-cards
.... and many more!

One of the principal manufacturers who produces many of these items,
Jerry Richards, refers to the diagram remaining a "fresh" design, 
which is difficult to improve upon. In Richards' opinion Harry Beck 
"did a great job for London's tourism". Richards' products appear 
both in the London Transport Museum, but also in other commercial 
outlets such as Tie Rack in the UK. He also exports and refers to 
95% of his products going overseas either directly or as purchases 
by visitors to the UK. Hardly surprisingly he encountered 
difficulties in putting the design into repeat, for textile 
applications; and is mildly embarrassed that this requires some 
distortion of the design (for example Aldgate East is placed 
adjacent to Holland Park; and Finchley Road appears to be South 
of the Thames!). Such cartographic inaccuracies are probably not 
critical to a Japanese purchasing in Tokyo a pair of boxer shorts 
covered in the 'diagram'.

London Transport are aware of the risk of debasing the credibility 
of the design; and are selective about which manufacturers they will
work with. They seek to retain the essential integrity of Beck's 
design; and do not automatically grant a licence. Some notable 
applications which have not been granted a licence included a Danish
shoe manufacturer, who proposed applying the diagram as a tread 
pattern for a pair of shoes (in this case the licence was not 
granted because the design included the London Transport roundel 
incorrectly) (illustration 7); and a Japanese biscuit manufacturer, 
who proposed employing the design on their tins. 

POSTERS
Beck's diagram has also been the creative starting point for the 
design of numerous posters designed by others. One of the first of 
these was a set produced during 1935 by O'Keefe (illustration 8.1) 
which was aimed at targeted groups of potential users; such as 
theatregoers, shoppers and museum visitors.

Since then the diagram has been used frequently in posters by London
Transport to inform the public of particular services, and exhort 
them to use the network correctly. For example Richard Bird's 
"End of the Line for Litter" of 1989 ; The Fine White Line's "Tate 
Gallery" of 1987, and "Tube Centenary" of 1990 (illustrations 8.2, 
8.3 and 8.4). The Tate Gallery poster remains one of the best 
selling products at the London Transport Museum shop.

Many of the products bearing Beck's design, or prompted by it - 
such as Legend Design's poster "Cutting through the traffic" 
(illustration 8.5); rely to a large extent upon a witty and 
sensitive interpretation of Beck's concept. While this may be 
antipathetic to some design purists, based upon my own knowledge 
of Beck himself, and the ample evidence from others, I doubt that 
Harry Beck would have been deeply troubled by the majority of these.

COLOUR
One interesting subsidiary source of promotional products which have
arisen largely as a result of Beck's design is the colour coding 
employed to identify the different 'lines'. While the idea of colour
coding the lines originated before Beck's design of 1931, it gave 
added prominence to the identifying colours. As a result these are 
now so well imprinted in peoples' minds that they provide a basis 
for products in their own right. One can purchase mugs and 
stationery based purely upon the colour code (illustration 9).

CONCLUSION
Harry Beck clearly was fascinated by the workings of the London 
Underground system, and he lovingly devoted a sustained personal 
effort over a period of more than thirty years to making 
modifications and improvements to the diagram.

It is doubtful whether Beck ever imagined that his design would 
become such an icon of London; or that he would have expected such 
a dry subject as a public transport route diagram to be the basis 
of so many witty and commercially successful souvenir products and 
poster images. Given the sense of sheer fun which his design has 
engendered, and the degree of affection and international respect 
for it; I cannot believe that despite the vicissitudes of his 
relationship with London Transport, he would today resent that his 
ideas have created the means to help preserve the design heritage 
of London. So on balance, to misquote Queen Victoria; yes, I am 
inclined to believe that Harry Beck would "have been amused". 


REFERENCES
1 Garland K, 1994 "Mr Beck's Underground Map" London: Capital 
  Transport Publishing ISBN 185414 168 6 
2 "How to Use and Protect the Intellectual Property Rights of 
  London Transport" London: London Transport

ILLUSTRATIONS
1 Beck's first submission for the Underground diagram, 1931 
  Note that each station name was lettered by hand 
2 "The Underground straight eight all-electric skit-set circuit 
  diagram" Train, Omnibus and Tram Staff Magazine, March 1933 
3 Current Journey planner
4 Detail of central section of the diagram; left: 1989 design 
  right: 1990 redesign by Demuth
5 London Regional Transport / Royal National Institute for the 
  Blind, "Tactile diagram of the Central London Underground" 
6 A selection of the range of products based upon the London 
  Underground diagram
7 Unsuccessful proposed applications; above: Danish shoe tread   
  below: Japanese biscuit tin
8.1 O'Keefe, 1935 Poster design
8.2 Richard Bird, 1989 "End of the Line for Litter" 
8.3 The Fine White Line, 1987 "Tate Gallery"
8.4 The Fine White Line, 1990 "Tube Centenary" of 1990
8.5 Legend Design, 1993 "Cutting through the traffic" 
9 Colour coding of routes provides a basis for souvenir products


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 have
none of the contextual cues that would make us comfortable in
any of these situations - we might be preaching to the converted,
for instance, or being sold a pup; told jokes by a bore or being
taught by an ignoramus. In any case, we'd want to know more about
the other person before judging which of thsese other kinds of
relationships we should want to take up. And, at the back of our
minds, I bet we'd all (?) be secretly hoping this 'other person'
might turn out to be witty, charming and attractive - someone
we could aimlessly chat with for hours on end, not caring
particularly what we were talking about and remembering pretty
much nothing afterwards.

On reflection, the poster is probably the nearest we get to this
in graphic design. The kind of poster I suspect most AIGA members
were thinking about was for their favourite band - or for
something they really liked or perhaps strongly identified with.
The equivalent, as it were, of striking up a dialogue with a
stranger: 'hey, there's this really great gig next week at
Fillmore East - why don't you come by?' [But the more dogmatic
might prefer the Dutch Avuncular: 'What do you think about what
they are doing to the Sierras?']. By contrast, how conversational
is 'making information clear'? [I picture my old Latin teacher
buttonholing me at a bus stop and giving me a dressing down about
the 'correct' way to parse irregular verbs, but it could equally
involve directing a hapless vistor: 'turn right at the next
junction, follow the road for 300 yards and then look out for
Lucky's on the corner' (not exactly a thrilling interchange,
but citizenly enough).]

This might all sound a little frivolous, but:

> Unfortunately, the title 'designer' in much of the popular
> parlance has come to mean that person who takes a product,
> a space, a book, a piece of clothing and makes it LOOK BETTER
> as opposed to the individual who seminally creates something
> that is better.

made me realize that actually, as a species, one of our greatest
achievements has been to evolve beyond the need for everything in
our lives to be totally functional - or necessary for survival.
The gift of toolmaking freed us from the incessant preoccupation
with feeding oursleves - and meant that we could afford to spend
more and more of our time in playful pursuits.

Taking this a stage further, it seems perfectly reasonable to
suggest that the things that we really want to do with our time
- and on which we want to focus the attention of our media -
are precisely those things that have to do with with the 'homo
ludus', the playful ape, side of our nature. Games, sports,
music, fashion, decoration, public discourse, news, gossip...
[All the things, in fact, that we find well represented in the
pages of a Sunday newspaper.]

Given that a truly huge and totally disproportionate part of our
brains is given over to visual perception, it seems obvious that
a great part of our 'playful' nature should focus on the way
things look. And indeed our culture(s) are obsessed with these
things. It also seems to explain why we have a predilection for
things that look good but perform less well (stiletto heels,
period homes, Alessi kettles <g>) - and why 'functional' is
often used in a derogatory sense (as in 'sensible shoes').

The 'seminally better' thing is often the thing most of us would
rather not be bothered with. We'd rather read Proust, or the
paper, than the instructions for a new VCR. We'd rather scribble
a note to a friend, or elaborate a doodle, than fill in a lengthy
application form. We'd rather look at a Picasso, or a poster,
than try to figure out which exit we should take from the subway
map. All of these types of things represent *intrusions* into our
lives, intrusions from the mechanical and bureaucratic complexity
of modern life. It may be important that they are done well, but
it is also important to remember that they are at best secondary
and incidental to what we really want to do with our time
(watching videos on the VCR, shopping with the new credit card we
were applying for, cheering at the game we were heading to when
we got lost underground). So really I'm with the AIGA delegates
- who'd rather (given a free choice) spend their time on the
primary thing.

James
_________________________________________________________________

2) message by:  Claude Cossette <claude.cossette@com.ulaval.ca>

Richard Saul Wurman writes:

> The various books that have been produced on graphic diagrams
> have been devoted almost exclusively to the aesthetics of the
> beautiful diagram, the beautiful map and chart - not their
> performance, not their system and not the analysis and
> criticism of their performance. The departments of graphic
> design that offer valid courses to this end are practically
> non-existent.

I entirely agree with Richard.

History. Till 1997, I was chair of the Graphic Communication
Programmes here at Universite Laval. This dpt is the largest in
Canada with close to 400 students. Students get their diploma
after two years in plastic arts plus three in graphic design (few
courses in mass communication, from where the program's title).

I myself come from advertising. As chair, I fought for years to
implement courses in what I called "la graphique" (Bertin). Now,
there is effectively such a course in the curriculum but yet, the
content that is teached is "how to give beauty to these awful
diagrams and charts we see everywhere".

My explanation of the fact: most of graphic design programmes are
imbedded in art schools where the dominant faculty are artists.
Aesthetics is their main concern. More: communication
(advertising, mainly) is shit.

Not suprising that graphic designers think of posters as THE
challenge precisely fit for designers.

However, what society needs the most is the communication
consultant capable to undertand complex problems, and eager
to propose adequate solutions.

Let us talk about new technology for a moment: at Universite
Laval, one teaches extensively computer design... still in an
aesthetic perspective. Altough to design a Web page may be a
marketing problem, for the graphic the designer, it should be
first an information-communication problem... that it is not
for most designers.

On my view, to graduate competent graphic designers, a school
must put together many specialists working hand in hand with
the "artists" to give the adequate education to their graduates:
maybe geographers (the most competent in information graphics),
marketers (marketing being the principal employers of designers),
social psychology specialists, and so on.

In my case, at he end of a career, and "desperate" about
succeeding convincing my colleagues of my point of view at
the School of visual arts, I switched to the information-
communication dpt where I found students interested by
communication-information more than by aesthetics.

One thing is for sure, schools of graphic design must stop seeing
graphic design as an aesthetic field of competence and more as an
information exchange place.

Best,

Claude


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