K's Field Journal ~ History of Graphic Design: Module 5: The Genesis of Twentieth Century Design

'The Art of the Poster,

is the Art of Suggestion'

John Hassall poster designer, c1916

Today I am learning about posters, advertising, and London Underground.

Original drawing for the London Underground roundel symbol
Design: Edward Johnston © TfL/London's Transport Museum

http://designmuseum.org/design/frank-pick

The Textbook Chapter 12 ended with Design for the London Underground. I thought this was interesting because we have been studying all these willowy, curvy, new designs and the contrast to the London Underground design is startlingly. The reason was a good one. Frank Pick wanted the posters and signage to jump out amid all the advertising clutter. He understood early that you had to set yourself apart. This is a clear indication of 20th century marketing. Before posters were "predominantly text based and failed to convey a coherent corporate identity."

Frank Pick (1878-1941)
Design Patron

http://designmuseum.org/design/frank-pick

I found London Transport museum's website and they have the posters on a time line from the 1900's to the present day. Absolutely fun surfing the hundreds of posters and by so many different artists. I have posted a few below. Go check them out. Pick sure knew what he was doing. Now I understand why the textbook included this section for our study.

"London Transport’s annual poster programme has always been diverse. This was necessary in order to appeal to such a broad audience. However, every decade in poster history demonstrates key stylistic developments." http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/dates/dates-main.html

This poster by John Hassell, marked the beginning of London's underground poster program.

John Hassell, 1908

"This was the first pictorial poster commissioned by Pick for the Underground. The bold graphic design contrasted sharply with the wordy layout of earlier transport posters. Hassall, an established and popular commercial artist, was an excellent choice to launch the new approach."

'The Art of the Poster, is the Art of Suggestion'

John Hassall poster designer, c1916

Now compare that with the one one below. This was the style before Pick took over. So you can see the message is so much clearer with a simple visual rather than lots of text. Oh, by the way, he got this part of his job by complaining about the advertising.

Always ask for tickets by District route, by unknown artist, 1901

"Pick organised commissions directly with artists and illustrators. He approached skilled and respected practitioners of their day, but also younger, lesser-known artists. In 1915, Pick spotted the talent of Edward McKnight Kauffer, who went on to dominate the British poster art field." Below is one of Kauffer's first posters and he continued all the way to 1974 designing posters for the Underground.

The North Downs, by Edward McKnight Kauffer, 1915

A few random ones:

1900's 1910's