Who's Who in Underground Railway Maps

Bronzaft, Arline L. Ph.D	Dr Bronzaft is an environmental psychologist, and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Lehman College in New York City. Her research on the New York subway map contributed to MTA's review of the 1972 Vignelli map and its instigation of the 1979 redesign, which was carried out by Michael Hertz. With Dr Stephen Dobrow, Dr Bronzaft tested the Vignelli map and reported on its shortcomings. As a result of publicity given to that research, Drs Bronzaft and Dobrow were invited to join the MTA's map-making committee in 1975. References: A.L. Bronzaft, S.B. Dobrow, & T.J. O'Hanlon (1976) Spatial orientation in a subway system in Environment and Behavior, 28:185-203. A.L. Bronzaft (Fall 1977) Environmental Psychology Goes Beyond the Laboratory, McGill Journal of Education, Volume 12, No. 2. A.L. Bronzaft (1981) Understanding Traveler Information Needs for Decision Making, in: Marketing Public Transportation: Policies, Strategies, and Research Needs for the 1980s, Proceedings Series of the American Marketing Association, edited by Richard K Robinson and Christopher H Lovelock. A.L. Bronzaft & S.B. Dobrow (1983-1984) Improving Transit Information Systems in Journal of Environmental Systems, Volume 13.
Beck, Henry C. (aka Harry Beck) d. 1974	Mr Beck designed the first genuinely diagrammatic map of the London Underground in 1931. This was first published in 1933 by the London Underground Group (which became the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), in July of that year -- the entity subsequently known as London Transport). Mr Beck controlled the Tube Map from January 1933 to March 1960, apart from a gap from 1938 to 1940, when Herr Schleger had control. In 1960, Mr Hutchison assigned the stewardship of the map to himself. Mr beck continued to work on the map in private, but his proposals were never taken up by the London Underground. Mr Beck took a position as a lecturer on the history of typography. The primary published source on Mr Beck's work is: Ken Garland (1994) Mr Beck's Underground Map, Capital Transport Publishing (in association with the London Transport Museum).
Betts, E.C.	Mr Betts designed a map of the London Underground that was issued in 1924. It had a distinctively cool and elegant aesthetic, but did not lead to any further designs in this style.
Burwood, Les	Mr Burwood was co-author, with Carol Brady, of "London Transport Maps: A Concise Catalogue", 1st edition 1982, 2nd edition 1983. This was a major step in the cataloguing of London Underground maps, which was subsequently built on by Anne Letch.
Brady, Carol	Ms Brady was a co-author, with Les Burwood, of a catalogue of London Transport maps. See above.
Daniel, Bruce	Mr Daniel was a designer and project manager for Michael Hertz Associates in New York, specializing in map design and transit graphics from 1979 through 1986. He served as a chief designer on NYC borough bus maps, bus and subway maps for Washington DC, and various other map and graphic design projects. In 1986, Mr. Daniel co-founded Studio 87501 in Santa Fe, a design firm working with clients throughout the country on a wide range of projects, including: book design, graphics, advertising, fine art work, and map design. He founded American Custom Maps in 1989, where he was Principal-In-Charge / Senior Designer. That company serves the mapping needs for a number of specialty niches. These markets included museum catalogues and display maps, public transit and bicycle maps, recreation and visitor maps, event maps, and special-use maps. The company was acquired by International Mapping Associates in October 2001, where Mr Daniel took the position of Director of Design and Multimedia Production. See IMA home page.
Demuth, Tim	Mr Demuth designed the diagrammatic map of the London suburban services, which were issued from 1973 to 1975, and which formed the basis for the subsequent long-term series of London Connections map. Mr Demuth's map very effectively applied Mr Beck's design principles to the Greater London area. (Mr Beck died in the year after Mr Demuth's map came out. One hopes that he got to see Mr Demuth's new map.) According to Mr Ken Garland, Mr Demuth also succeeded Mr Garbutt in the design of the London Tube Map in the mid-1980s. He is the co-author of a book that is the main published source on pre-Beck maps of the London Underground: Tim Demuth & David Leboff (1999) No Need to Ask! Early Maps of London's Underground Railways, Capital Transport Publishing (in association with the London Transport Museum). He was also the author of this less successful book: Tim Demuth (2003) The Spread of London's Underground, Capital Transport Publishing (in association with the London Transport Museum).
J.W.G.	J.W.G. was the draughtsperson for a map of the IRT network in New York, at least in 1927. S/he worked for the Ohman Map Company, and was succeeded by H.L.S. in respect of drawing the IRT map.
Garbutt, Paul	Mr Garbutt designed the London Underground maps that were issued from 1964 to the mid-1980s. He started work on the map shortly after the debacle of Hutchison's much-criticised design. With his redesign, he reinstated many of Beck's design principles. His name disappeared from the Tube Map in the mid-1980s, after which the map remained anonymous. According to Ken Garland, Mr Garbutt was succeeded by Tim Demuth.
Gill, Macdonald FRIBA	Mr Gill created the first clear, systematic maps of the London Underground. He was the younger and less famous brother of the sculptor Eric Gill. Other works than Underground maps: One of his famous works was a world map of "Mail Steamship Routes". His most magnificent works is a 24ft by 15ft mural in the dining room of the ship, Queen Mary. The mural is formally a map of the North Atlantic, but is highly pictorialised. The cities of London and New York are picked out by clusters of eminent buildings of those two cities. The picture incorporates the actual clock on the wall, as a solar emblem, which is balanced by the moon. The map shows the summer and winter courses of the ship. An illuminated model in crystal indicates the position of the ship on the voyage between Bishop’s Rock and the Nantucket lightships. A small image can be see on the right. See also the larger image. For London Underground, he created the Wonderground Map of London (1914). A small image of one corner (containing the legend) can be see on the right. See also the larger image of the same detail. (Scan courtesy of Charles Lovell.)
Hagstrom, Andrew	Mr Hagstrom's company has produced subway maps of New York since the 1930s. His subway maps of the 1940s and 1950s were pre-eminent and were adopted by the Board of Transportation for the unified subway network from the early 1940s to 1958. In 1969, Mr Hagstrom emigrated from Sweden and started a graphic arts business in New York City. He purchased the copyrights to Dolph and Street Company's base maps of New York City. His elevated and subway map was printed in all issues of the telephone directories for the five boroughs through the 1940s and 50s. Mr Hagstrom was knighted by the King of Sweden for his outstanding work in the United States. In 1968 Macmillan Publishing Company purchased the Hagstrom Company and the building at 311 Broadway and controlled operations through the 1970's expanding the selection of base maps to include many cities throughout the U.S. Their offices moved to 33rd and Tenth Ave (450 West 33rd Street). Hagstrom was sold again in 1981 to the American Map Corporation, an affiliate of the Langenscheidt Company of Germany. Hagstrom is still operating their offices in Maspeth, Queens. (Information from Gregory Christiano.)
Hammond, C.S.	US map-maker, who published a number of NY subway maps in the first half of the century.
Hertz, Michael	Michael Hertz Associates is named as designer on the NY Subway Map in the pilot edition of 1996, and in the regular editions (entitled "the Map") from January 1998 onwards. Mr Hertz was, however, involved in the MTA's mapmaking from 1969, and was the principal designer of the 1979 map that succeeded Massimo Vignelli's map (1972-1978). 1979 map: The project to create the post-Vignelli map during 1975 to 1979 was led by an MTA committee, chaired initially by Fred Wilkinson and latterly by John Tauranac. Michael Hertz was the graphic designer who executed the ideas that emanated from the committee. Mr Hertz began work on the map in 1975. He was working with an "an environmental psychologist, an urban systems engineer and some student test subjects at Calhoun High School in Merrick", according to journalist Peter Unger, who published an article in Newsday, 30 January 1978, to note the printing of 100 copies of the third version of the map. "Starting today, the authority is launching a subway advertising campaign with posters that headline: 'If you don't like our new subway map, you can tell us where to go! We'd like your help in testing a new subway map.' And another batch of Nassau and Suffolk students also will be called upon to comment." In February that year, the map was exhibited at a Manhattan art gallery called Cityana, at 16 East 53rd Street, in retrospective of NY subway maps. Visitors were apparently given copies of the new map to try out. The environmental psychologist that Unger refers to is Dr Arline Bronzaft, who co-authored the paper Spatial orientation in a subway system with Dr Stephen B. Dobrow, and T.J. O'Hanlon (published in 1976 in Environment & Behavior, 28:185-203). That study reported testing of the Vignelli map and shortcomings of that map. It received some publicity, as a result of which Drs Bronzaft and Dobrow were invited to join the mapmaking committee in 1975. In his work for the MTA, Mr Hertz also designed the Manhattan Bus Map (from 1973), the Commuter Rail Map (from 1981) and various Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad maps over the years Mr Hertz lives in Merrick, NYC.
Hutchison, F.	Secretly redesigned the London Underground map in 1958 and 1959, and unleashed it in 1960, to universal derision and horror. His design was in use until 1963, and was supplanted by Garbutt's design in 1964.
Perman, E.G.	Mr Perman designed one map of the London Underground in 1927, which was used for two years. Similar to Gill but more artistic flourishes.
Plachy, G.V.	Mr Plachy drew the map of the BMT network in New York from at least 1928 to 1939.
H.L.S.	Draughtsman for the map of the IRT network in New York, at least from 1932 to 1937. His design of 1932 is identical except in minor details to that produced by J.W.G. of the Ohman Map Company in 1927.
Salomon, George	Mr Salomon designed the first diagrammatic map of the NY subway, 1958. Superseded by Vignelli in 1972.
Schleger, Hans ('Zero')	Herr Schleger, a refugee from Berlin, redesigned Beck's diagram in 1938, but lost control back to Beck in 1940. Schleger was a high-profile graphic designer, but not a draughtsman (as Beck was). He also created a number of LU posters, and the covers of some leaflets giving information on line extensions. His maps were pretty, but not very good as information design.
Stanford, Edward	Mr Stanford (1827-1904) was a pioneer cartographer of London, and his map formed the base map of the first underground railway maps issued by the Metropolitan District Railway Company. In 1862, Mr Stanford published his magnum opus, the Library Map of London, a hugely detailed and indexed street map of the city. In 1866, he published for parliamentary debate a map of the new Metropolitan Railway system (which was created in 1863 from Paddington to Farringdon). One of these was sold on eBay and described thus: "A folded map, dissected and laid down on cloth, entitled 'Stanford's New Map of Metropolitan Railways with Miscellaneous Improvements sanctioned in 1866'. This was the 'Post Sessional edition'. It opens out to size approx. 30 1/2 inches by 33.75 inches. It was dated September 14th, 1866. In the bottom right-hand corner of the map is a list of the plans sanctioned in 1866, with the names of engineers, etc. Amongst the engineers is 'G R Stephenson'. The scale of the map is approximately two inches to one mile. Railways lines in operation are shown by black continuous lines; those sanctioned before 1866 by black dotted lines, and those sanctioned in 1866 in red. The map folds into a card cover." Stanford's name is well known in London today through the shop that now stands in Long Acre, near Covent Garden. Stanford's cartographic business was established in 1852. In 1873 he moved the printing works from 55 Charing Cross to 12-14 Long Acre, where the present flagship shop was opened in January 1901. (Stanfords also has three concession shops elsewhere in London and one stand-alone store in Bristol.) See the Stanford company's Company History.
Stingemore, Frederick H.	Desiged pocket maps of the London Underground, 1925 to 1932.
Tauranac, John (1939-)	Mr Tauranac was on the committee that directed the project to redesign the NY subway map during 1975 to 1979. In a later phase of the project, he succeeded Mr. Fred Wilkinson as chairman of the committee. The resuling map, designed by Mr Hertz, replaced Mr Vignelli's map. (During this time, Mr Tauranac was employed in the MTA Marketing Department, while Michael Hertz Associates was an outside company contracted by the MTA. Michael Bosniak was MTA's graphics manager at the time.) After thirteen years on the MTA payroll, Mr Tauranac was declared 'redundant' in 1987. He subsequently set up his own company, which published some subway and bus maps in the 1990s. As far as I am aware, Tauranac Ltd issued two distinct map sheets: "Subway Map" (1990, 1991, 1992), "New York City: Manhattan Buses and Subways" (1989, 1994, 1998). Mr Tauranac is sometimes referred to as 'the designer' of the 1979 MTA subway map. For example, the blurb for one book (1979) says "Mr Tauranac ... has just helped create the new subway map", while publicity material for.a later book (2003) states, "He has also created many city and transportation maps, including the award-winning 1979 New York subway map that is still in use." My understanding, however, is that the graphic design and execution of the map were carried out by Michael Hertz. I presume Mr Tauranac made a significant contribution to the MTA committee that directed the project to create the 1979 map, but I do not know precisely what contributions were made by different members of the committee. Mr Tauranac is also known as a writer of guidebooks and books on the history of New York: he is the author of "Essential New York: A Guide to the History and Architecture of Manhattan's Important Buildings, Parks, and Bridges" (1979), "Elegant New York: The Builders and the Buildings 1885-1915" (1985), "The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark" (1995), "Manhattan Block By Block: A Street Atlas" (2000), "Manhattan Line by Line: A Subway & Bus Atlas" (2003). He lives in Upper West Side, NYC.
Vignelli, Massimo	Mr Vignelli redesigned Salomon's New York Subway map in 1972, and which persisted until 1979, when superseded by Mr Hertz's design. Mr Vignelli was born in Milan, and runs a major design company, and is also noted for a famous range of plastic kitchenware in the 1970s. A comparison can be made between London and New York: Messrs Salomon and Beck were draughtsmen who were replaced by designers, respectively Messrs Vignelli in 1972 and Schleger in 1938: in both cases, we see structural information design being displaced by surface aesthetics.

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