Keep Calm and Carry on

March 18, 2009

A classic wartime poster is enjoying an unexpected revival in our economically turbulent times. Could New Labour learn from this design classic?

Jon Henley reports on The Guardian website about ‘the poster we can’t stop buying’. I first remember seeing it displayed in the wonderful Barter Books, and the slogan has since spawned an industry around K-C-A-C-O products. Some people are even making a living out of the phrase.

A chance to exhibit at Spike Design, along with a restricted palette of black, white and red, was too good an opportunity to miss. And so I present my version of Keep Calm and Carry on, updated for the Credit Crunch:

The original 1939 poster was part of a series of three. The posters were designed to inspire and comfort a population nervous about the future. Here are two more versions for modern times, click on the thumbnail to see the full poster:

The group exhibition ‘If I was…‘ is on until Mar 20 at Spike Island.

Thanks go to Steven Dawson and Hannah McVicar for putting on the show.