Harry Beck

Beck was an engineering draughtsman laid off by the Underground who sketched a new Tube map in his spare time in 1931, borrowing from electrical circuit diagrams: only horizontal, vertical and 45-degree lines, evenly spaced stations, and the central area enlarged at the expense of geographical truth. The publicity office printed a trial run in 1933 and passengers loved it. He was paid a small fee and spent years fighting for credit as others revised it. Almost every transit map in the world now follows his idea.