Posters have survived the decades in all sorts of strange ways. Some were acquired by collectors at the time and carefully preserved. Others have turned up in printers’ archives or long forgotten store rooms. Occasionally a ‘hoard’ is found in the most unlikely of places. And that’s exactly what happened...

2015 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of Britain’s most important post-war graphic designers, Hans Unger (1915-75). A prolific poster artist (he produced 117 designs for London Transport alone), Unger was also an accomplished mosaicist and illustrator. In this blog, author and designer Naomi Games (daughter of...

Until recently the huge literature on British interwar commercial art has largely ignored the significant contribution made by women designers. Thankfully, the genius of Freda Lingstrom, Sybil Andrews, Anna & Doris Zinkeisen, Dora Batty, Herry Perry and many mores is finally getting the recognition it deserves, with new publications and...

'...may all our worlds be coloured in an absorbing geography' (MacDonald Gill 1944) The Wonderground Map of London Town, 1914  MacDonald Gill (1884-1947) was a multi-talented man: an architect, letterer, mural painter and graphic designer. But in the public consciousness his name is inextricably linked with pictorial maps. The first...

“To make a good job of a poster it must be well designed, but for goodness sake do not drag it into the mud by calling it ‘Art’.” (Gregory Brown, Commercial Art, June 1928) For my money, Frederick Gregory Brown was one of the most influential poster artists of his...