Harry Beck

Have you ever heard of Harry Beck? Nope, neither had I!!! But thanks to Harry, commuters around the world have an easier time navigating transit maps! And when you are in a foreign country and trying to figure out the Tube or the Metro or the U-Bahn or the S-Bahn... Harry's invention comes in handier than you can imagine... And it's cute and colourful to boot!
Before Harry came along, cities had street maps... and on these street maps, they would show the lines and stations of their version of underground or overground mass transit... Which was a little tricky because in the downtown, stations were a lot closer together than on the outskirts... And it meant that if you wanted to figure out how to get from A to B on the transit system, you really had your work cut our for you... Just try openning up a full scale map of London or Berlin and charting a course that way!

Harry figured there must be a better way... Harry was an unemployed electrical draughtsman by trade. He had been working for the London Underground, but then laid off as redundant. In his free time, he worked at figuring out a better Tube map. His bright idea was to make the map schematic rather than geographical. His first presentation to the London Underground was rejected as too revolutionary... Later, when he was once again working for them, he made a second presentation, and this time they agreed to print a trial run. The first 750,000 copies of Harry's map were a huge hit with commuters! As Harry figured, they just wanted to know how to get from one station to another... and Harry's map provided them with that information in a simple, compact, and colourful format.

For his brilliance, Harry was paid a grand total of 15 English pounds... As with many great inventors, he wasn't recognized during his time, and the London Underground often made ill-advised "improvements" to Harry's map. Today though, he is recognized as a graphic genius... and his style of map is used the world over... in Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Tokyo, Zurich, Rome, Moscow... wherever there is a complex Underground/Tube/Metro... Harry's schematic map style is used, making the lives of traveller's the world over easier!