Stark, Spare, Beautiful Midcentury British Safety Posters | Hacker News Reader

Stark, Spare, Beautiful Midcentury British Safety Posters

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131 pointsprismatic36 comments

Reminds me of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project whereby the government employed artists to create posters for various events/programs etc. Library of Congress has many online. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?st=grid&co=wpapos

The background I use for the "Public Presentations" account on my laptop is a WPA-produced public health poster. They're excellent.

I have a few printed and hung on my walls. I work in infection prevention so people aren't surprised when they walk into my bathroom and learn about smallpox and syphilis.

A most often cited parody British council related to this kind of PSA : http://scarfolk.blogspot.com/

If you like this you might also love the framley examiner http://www.framleyexaminer.com/museum/technology.html (warning - humour)

The paper version of the Framley Examiner is one of the funniest things I've ever read - although you probably need to be familiar with British local papers to savour it.

"Dying is like drifting off into a nice, deep sleep...

...except that it is not nice; it is profoundly traumatic and painful and you will never wake up ever again."

Brilliant! :)

I’m reminded of these, from Dresden Codak:

https://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code...

And also these, from Scary go Round:

http://shop.scarygoround.com/product/don-t-tit-about-on-ladd...

http://shop.scarygoround.com/product/rules-of-the-pool-print

Note that that last one is based on a real poster which existed at many swimming pools when I was younger.

That's basically everything that's fun to do in a pool, prohibited?

Comics related to that poster:

http://scarygoround.com/?date=20120124

http://scarygoround.com/?date=20120125

The second one has the poster you’re probably referring to below it.

Comic related to the ladder poster:

http://scarygoround.com/?date=20120902

Similar to Erik Nitsche's series for General Dynamics in the 1950s. Absolutely beautiful and retrofuturistic. A whole slew of them were made to promote the peaceful use of atomic power; hence the "Atoms for peace" slogan appearing in a bunch of them, in different languages.

http://www.internationalposter.com/artist-detail.aspx?id=181...

They don't make James-Bond-esque military-industrial conglomerates like they used to!

What annoys me with British PSA's is that they're always stick rather than carrot.

I know it may sound like I'm whining, but hearing for the 50th time today that I'll get fined some stupidly high amount for not doing as I'm told can get weary after a while.

Always?

How about this: http://www.rospaprints.com/image/1061275/bruce-angrave-lift-...

Or this: http://www.rospaprints.com/image/825548/leonard-cusden-lets-...

Or: http://www.rospaprints.com/image/825556/bruce-angrave-courte...

In any case, I don't see a single poster threatening fines.

Isn't that kind of inherent with safety stuff? The best case is that you leave with the same number of digits, limbs, and organs that you came in with. The potential downside is huge (death, dismemberment) and the potential upside is zero.

I had that problem visiting California, where so many signs also list the law that applies. Even the little cart to take people to the top of Alcatraz has a sign "don't board moving cart", seemingly simple advice, then it lists the relevant law. The effect felt a bit police-statey, I found.

This post contains characters known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.

It may feel police-statey, but it's lawyers, plaintiffs, juries, and unintended consequences that are responsible.

Seems to be a revival of these kind. See some Soviet ones here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/11-wonderfully-violent-s...

Those are all terrifying.

Anyone interested in this era/design would do well to look at other Railway posters of the age[1]. There's something so utterly charming about this bye-gone era. A lot of the original posters change hands for not-inconsiderable amounts of money and one can see why, true design outlasts the fashion of the day.

Those with access to BBC should also checkout the 'Age of Travel' episode of Antiques Roadshow that was on Sunday, very relevant.[2]

[1] http://www.nrm.org.uk/ourcollection/posters [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0822pdm/antiques-roads...

What currency is this? http://www.nrm.org.uk/ourcollection/posters/CollectionItem?o...

gns?

I was curious too - apparently it's a "Guinea", equal to 1.05 GBP:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_(coin)

"Even after the coin ceased to circulate, the name guinea was long used to indicate the amount of 21 shillings (£1.05 in decimalised currency). The guinea had an aristocratic overtone; professional fees and payment for land, horses, art, bespoke tailoring, furniture and other luxury items were often quoted in guineas until a couple of years after decimalisation in 1971.[9]"

England initially had what was effectively three independent monetary systems, with three independent uses, though interchangeable and with exchange rates periodically re-fixed.

Copper (pennies) for retail purchases. Silver (shillings and pounds) for wholesale. And gold (guineas) for finance (and government) transactions. Kind of.

That's partially based on my reading of Adam Smith (who spends a tremendous amount of time on coinages) and partially my own speculation, though it seems to have at least some merits.

Keep in mind that pennies went down to the farthing (a quarter penny).

For labourers (ag, day, general, messengers, miners), annual wages were ~17 - 31 pounds/yr, roughly, as of 1700.

For some historical wages and costs:

http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/wages.htm

What makes these beautiful to you? Such stark, spare design is not what I personally consider beautiful. Educational and clear? Sure. Beautiful? I don't think so!

Design should serve its purpose.

Here, the purpose is to clearly and effectively convey that there are hazards which can maim or kill. And the design has to both convey that message and not get in the way of it.

As models of effective, and yet elegant design, I think they're worth studying.

The general concept of messaging and how various systems for it work is a quite general one. E.O. Wilson in his book Letters to a Young Scientist talks of his own work with ants, and in determining that danger signals were small, light, volatile molecules -- they spread quickly and dispersed relatively quickly (no use in spreading alarm after the danger's passed), but might also be detected by other species (not a real concern -- alarm is alarm).

More complex messages -- food trails or colony identity, were larger, more complex molecules, which didn't spread so far (you don't want your "the trail is this way" signs pointing off in all directions or getting moved to where they don't belong), and are more specific to species (no use telling the competition where the gold is buried). It's something of a molecular grammar.

There are times for highly ornate graphics. There are times for something blunt and to the point. Knowing when (and how) to use either is the mark of an accomplished graphic artist.

There are some French safety posters here, photographed in an abandoned thread mill in Lille: http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/overseas-sites/10150-mo...

Reminded me of the Nasa JPL space exploration posters - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/

Compressed air kills?

Overpressure blowing up a container or piping isn't pretty. Air compresses very well, so it gains a lot of volume quickly and gives flying debris a lot of energy compared to e.g. a bursting water tank.

You don't need a failure for compressed air to be dangerous. The air itself can damage you in all kinds of ways:

http://www.aircontrolindustries.com/dangers-of-compressed-ai...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/Co-workers-pu...

Compressed air will cut you. I'm more curious about the welder earthing one.

It's low voltage. The risk of a shock there is similar to the risk of shock from a car battery. It can happen in theory but realistically arc welding has some bigger hazards to worry about than the grounding connection (like the molten slag flying everywhere). Sure I wouldn't weld knee deep in salt water or whilst leaning against a metal wall but outside of ridiculous examples the grounding clamp isn't going to kill me.

When i weld the grounding connector often has a poor connection for whatever reason (usually due to weathering on the metal). The result is simply that the welder doesn't work well and i have to adjust the clamp to fix it. I don't suddenly die of electrocution.

Where can I source reproductions?

Perhaps here: http://www.rospaprints.com/view_all

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