Valuable Lessons We Can Learn from the Creator of the London Tube Map
By: Liz Jin
Tags: Personal Development, Creativity, History, Life Lessons, Communication

Valuable Lessons We Can Learn from the Creator of the London Tube Map

This brilliant document is a free masterclass on communication and creativity

tfl.gov.uk

The humble London Tube map (also known as the London Underground map) is one of the most iconic and recognizable images in the world. But this map does more than help millions of passengers on their daily travels. By understanding its origins and evolution, we can all become vastly better creators and communicators.

Harry Beck, an electrical draughtsman, designed the first iteration of the Tube map in 1931. An electrical draughtsman is a person who makes technical drawings to communicate ideas in industry and engineering.

Beck had been laid off from the London Underground in the late 1920s due to budget cuts. With time on his hands and an interest in London’s transport system, he set about to “tidy up” the Tube map.

And “tidying up” it desperately needed. As you can see below, the Tube map that was available at the time was a mess. The station names were difficult to read, as were the awkwardly twisting underground lines.

Underground Map, 1908, Wikipedia

A subsequent version was even more disastrous. The centrally located stations were practically on top of one another, and there were tons of wasted space as the lines moved further away from central London.

In fairness to the original mapmakers, their primary motivation was geographic accuracy. Consequently, they took the rail lines and simply overlaid them on top of a regular city map.

Lucky for Londoners, Beck had a different vision. In a radical move, he evened out the spaces between stations and experimented with underground lines that ran horizontal, vertical and at 45-degree angles. In doing so, he illustrated an important lesson in communication.

Communication is about conveying information. To convey information effectively, you must prioritize the needs of your audience. Beck intuitively understood that Underground passengers didn’t care whether the map showed the topography above ground. Passengers just wanted to know how to get from one station to another as efficiently as possible.

Beck was a masterful communicator because he put the needs of the passenger first. He eschewed geographic accuracy and emphasized the clarity and the connections of the various lines instead.

Henry Beck’s First Tube Map that showed even spacing between stations and used 45-degree angles, 1931, https://londonist.com/2016/05/the-history-of-the-tube-map

Beck did more than elegantly communicate the train lines — his map actually influenced social behavior. By evening out the distance between stations, he subliminally suggested that central London was easily accessible for those living in the outer suburbs. The intention wasn’t to deceive; the message was that these stops were ultimately all connected.

Believe it or not, Beck’s first map was rejected for being too “revolutionary” (Reminder: we’re talking about a map here). But he didn’t give up, giving us another important lesson on creativity. Creativity is a process. Beck continued refining his map, adding diamonds to mark interchanges and replacing the rest of the stops with tick marks. The resulting map was published in 1933 and was an instant success.

Creativity is the phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed, and Beck’s innovative way of reimagining the humble tube map teaches us that creativity truly has no limits and inspiration can come from anywhere. Incredibly, Beck’s aha moment came while drawing an electrical circuit diagram.

Additionally, Beck’s process teaches us that creativity stems from curiosity. Beck was unemployed when he began experimenting with the Tube map and he was driven by a sincere interest in improving transportation. The lesson is to follow your curiosity with pure intentions as who knows where it may lead.

But my favorite lesson from the London Tube map is that functionality can be beautiful while being impactful. With its cheerful, bright colors, ample white space, and crisp, clean lines, Beck created an enduring piece of modern art that is accessible to all.