St George’s Day is here again and it’s time to get patriotic. Raise the flag and celebrate our Patron Saint, a truly Great British icon, a dragon slayer and the saviour of a fair maiden. But, in fact, he wasn’t English, there was no dragon to slay or a fair maiden to rescue but all that is another story.
For this particular St George’s Day I thought we could look at other iconic Britons, but within the graphic design world. A world that is familiar to me and one that I have loved for many years. There are so many great designers to choose from so I’ll pick a few of my favourites.
Harry Beck
First on the list is the awesome Harry Beck, without this guy, there would be a lot of confused Londoners wandering around the tube station! Harry Beck created the iconic London Underground Tube map in 1931. He designed the map in his spare time as a side project and based it on an electrical diagram rather than a more traditional geographical design. He believed that customers were more interested in how to get from one station to another and where to change trains rather than geographical references.
When he pitched his ideas to London Underground, they were received with a lukewarm response but they tentatively introduced the radical new map to the general public in a small pamphlet in 1933. It was immediately popular and the rest is history. Harry continued to make sketches and drawings of the map until he passed away in the 1970s. Although the map has changed quite a bit since Harry’s original design the overall concept remains the same.
Abram Games
