London Transport Posters
>The modern graphic poster came into use in the 1890s. Whether in the field of advertising, publicity, or propaganda, posters have since served as visual telegrams, providing a powerful means of communication.
The Underground Group's early publicity was ineffective. It failed to draw together the various transport systems or establish a coherent corporate identity. From 1907, under Albert Stanley's management, this began to change. Frank Pick was given responsibility for publicity in 1908 and, using graphic posters, set about building a positive company image in the minds of the public. Pick was aware that almost every attraction in London was within reach of the Underground, or at least could be marketed as such. Eye-catching images of the City's museums, theatres, cinemas, shops, parks, festivals, and sporting events lured the public onto the Underground.
Poster advertising also extended to subsidiary bus and tram companies. The Underground Group took over the London General Omnibus Company in 1913, two years after the fleet became fully mechanised. With motorbuses operating over much longer distances, the Underground Group could offer a growing range of country excursions. Posters advertising these services took the same indirect approach as those promoting City travel. Idyllic rural scenes tempted the City dwellers out of London.
The distinctive 'UNDERGROUND' lettering was introduced in 1908, heralding the beginning of the Underground Group's coherent graphic identity. In 1916, Pick commissioned Edward Johnston to design an exclusive typeface for station names. By the 1920s, the Johnston Underground typeface also appeared on posters and other publicity. The standard format established a clear corporate design identity and helped distinguish the company's information from other commercial advertisements. By this time the Underground Group's logo, the roundel, was registered as a copyright design. The solid red disc had become the circle it is today, its proportions devised by Johnston specifically to suit the typeface.
The golden age of poster design
During the 1920s and 30s, London Transport posters reached a peak of stylistic quality. Commissions were given to internationally known artists as well as promising newcomers. Designs were often striking, bold, geometric, and abstract. Many poster artists were influenced by European avant-garde art movements. Their designs provided a commercial take on styles such as cubism, futurism, and vorticism.This bought modern art to a much wider audience than would ever visit contemporary galleries.
Pick's progressive commissioning policy led to over 40 posters a year. By 1933 when London Transport was formed, the company was considered an important patron of the arts as well as a leader in the field of poster publicity.
Posters and art
Pick believed that posters fulfilled a loftier purpose than simply encouraging greater use of transport services. He saw their potential to enrich the quality of urban life in London. He had a passionate commitment to good design and an enlightened approach to the commercial application of art.
Although the earliest posters were commissioned from printing firms that employed their own commercial artists, Pick soon found they offered insufficient range and quality. As the poster programme grew, he began arranging commissions directly with fine artists and illustrators. Many were established names, but Pick was not afraid to experiment with younger, lesser-known artists. Pick spotted the talent of Edward McKnight Kauffer, who went on to dominate the British poster art field, and Graham Sutherland, long before his work earned critical acclaim. Pick also commissioned John Hassall, Fred Taylor, Dame Laura Knight and many others who were skilled and respected practitioners of their day. In the inter-war years, more graphic artists and designers produced posters for the Underground and London Transport than for any other organisation.
Posters in wartime
During the First World War, the Underground Group's posters took on a propaganda function in addition to their publicity role. This created some rather mixed messages as travel posters promoted pleasure trips alongside more sombre army recruitment adverts. As the war continued, leisure travel was discouraged and posters were produced principally to boost moral or advise on wartime safety procedures. Romantic poster images of London's countryside were still made, however, to send out to the troops overseas as 'reminders of home'.
During the Second World War, the propaganda function was resumed. Due to shortages of paper, fewer posters were issued and most of them appeared in reduced size. Posters were designed to lift the spirits of the nation as well as to commemorate the immense contribution made by London Transport workers in the Armed Forces and on the Home Front.
Frank Pick left London Transport in 1940. The new Publicity Officer, Harold F Hutchison, was not appointed until 1947. Hutchison had to address the changing circumstances of London Transport's operations. He saw the new function of posters as: 'London Transport's information window, through which we tell the public what we do and what we hope to do; what we expect of our staff and what we appreciate from our public'.
Hutchison made a significant contribution to L.T. poster design with the introduction of the 'pair poster'. This was an innovative system whereby a poster was designed in two halves, one for an image and one for text. The format afforded the designer more artistic freedom and the copywriter sufficient space to explain the commercial purpose of the poster. The arrangement lent itself to prime sites such as Underground station entrances.
In the 1950s, more direct advertising media were beginning to overshadow poster publicity. The number of London Transport poster commissions dropped to just seven or eight a year.
Hutchison retired in 1966. Bryce Beaumont, who had written copy for L.T. posters since before the war, succeeded him. Beaumont faced staff shortages, spiralling costs, and falling customer numbers. The traditional 'soft sell' approach was no longer appropriate: the company needed direct and measurable results. A central marketing department was established and poster advertisements started to be contracted out to agencies.
Michael Levey took over from Beaumont in 1975. Numbers reduced again to just four poster commissions a year. By the 1980s, nearly all advertisement work was conducted through agencies. Posters, which were mainly photographic, formed a minor part of the new marketing strategy, which included radio and television advertising.
Art on the Underground
In 1986 Dr Henry Fitzhugh, London Underground's marketing and development director, introduced a new marketing initiative: Art on the Underground. This was a campaign to encourage an artistic rather than a commercial approach to poster design, thus reviving London Transport's role as patron of the arts. Works commissioned as part of the Art on the Underground series improved the passenger environment by filling unsold advertising space. Every year the Underground commissioned two 'easy subjects', two avant-garde works, and two in-between. Six thousand of each were printed and displayed for between seven months and a year.
Publicity in the 1990s
Fitzhugh left London Underground in the early 1990s. Within the tighter economic climate, London Transport Advertising was soon privatised. T.D.I, its new owners, started selling advertising space more aggressively and there were no longer gaps for Art on the Underground commissions to fill. However, market research showed the campaign had been popular with customers. London Transport's Director of Design, Jeremy Rewse Davies, who had taken over the programme for commissioning art, reallocated advertising space specifically for London Transport posters for the first time since the 1970s.
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