Wartime

The outbreak of war in 1939 led to new design opportunities for the Post Office. At a time of national emergency, posters were commissioned that communicated how staff and customers could contribute to the war effort.

Posters promoting the Post Office Savings Bank during the early years of the war were initially aimed at allaying public fears that savings would be safer in banks. Reference is often made to the events of war. The incorporation of war photography conveys something of the immediacy of the action.

Telephone and telegraph services were put under pressure as mobilisation affected staffing levels. These lines of communication were also vital for operational activities. Posters were designed to encourage the public to plan in advance by sending a letter rather than congesting these lines.  

The circumstances of war provided a context for the development of graphic communication in Britain, with émigré artists from mainland Europe playing a central role. Hans Schlegar (Zero) and F K Henrion were among those who shifted the emphasis from commercial art to graphic design at this time.

Action stations - saving is everyone's war job. Post Office Savings Bank

F K Henrion, one of the émigré artists from mainland Europe, arrived in Britain in 1936. He designed a number of posters promoting the Post Office Savings Bank during the war years, which were initially aimed at allaying public fears that savings would be safer in banks. In later war posters such as Action stations – saving is everyone’s war job. Post Office Savings Bank, he conveys the action through the immediacy of photography. Henrion based posters such as this on actual action shots, obtained through contacts with war photographs made through his work for the Ministry of Information.

Think ahead write instead

After Edward McKnight Kauffer, a small group of younger designers began to emerge under the patronage of 1930s design reform. The group comprised Abram Games, Tom Eckersley, Henri Henrion and Hans Schleger, called Zero. These designers each made a substantial and unique contribution to the development of graphic design after WW2.

Born in Germany, Hans Schelgar spent time in America before coming to the UK in 1932. One of the first émigré designers to arrive in the thirties, he became a leading figure in the development of modern graphic design in Britain. Schlegar was a popular designer at the Post Office in the war years, receiving a variety of commissions. With pressures on telephone services due to mobilisation of staff, the Post Office commissioned posters to show how the public could help at a time of national emergency. This poster by Schelgar aimed to encourage the public to send a letter, rather than congest the telephone lines.

Make your money the driving power - put it into the Post Office Savings Bank

Public Service is their watch word ("On Service")

designed by Austin Cooper, 1941 (POST 110/3185)