GPO Posters  / ‘Design’ series

Paul Rennie

Design series format: Brian Webb

ACC Art Books. 2011

96pp

This new book in the "Design" series is based on the poster collection of the British Postal Museum and Archive, London. It tells the story of the Post Office and the use of design in its visual communications. The Post Office depends on effective communication to alert the wider population of the whole variety of services that it provides. Before the age of the internet and of television, the post office pioneered the use of graphic design and of cinema as tools of public relations. Accordingly, it placed itself at the heart of a global community that spanned the British Empire. The idea of community as a flow of information and defined as communication is at the heart of the Post Office and what it means to people throughout Britain and the world. This book is a celebration of communication and identity as important parts of design in Britain during the twentieth century. "E. McKnight Kauffer, Design" contains over 150 illustrations, many from original artworks, and work not before reproduced. With descriptions by Brian Webb and an introductory essay by Peyton Skipwith.