1950 Unknown Healthy thanks to Labour

Karnack, Beton, Rockwell, Gothic Condensed, Playbill, 36 Michael Middleton, and Ultra Bodoni36 were used, the Labour Soldiers of Lead, an Introduction to Layout Internal Design team showed maybe their and Typography for Use in the Labour Party. fallacy of naivety, by ignoring their own (London, 1948), p. 13. advice in choosing a decorative ‘brush style’ typeface for the campaign, a choice far removed from the Humanist and Slab Serifs that Middleton recommended for party members to use. Another design feature that the Labour party designers had recommended for success was the use of contrast of 37 Peter Harle, colour, Black ink on yellow paper,37 for example, ‘Designing a Poster’, Labour Organiser, a feature that we see to some extent in 1950, 28.331 (1949), 12–13. but by 1951 this recommendation is completely turned on its head and we move to Yellow, Red and Blue typography on a Black background, an aesthetic that while striking, is domineering and imposing, not necessarily strong and decisive, as well as not being entirely legible. It’s evident that while Labour was keen to set their house in order in terms of design theory, at the second time of asking the fragility of the process was highlighted and it seems the cohesion falls away. As we analyse each aesthetic decision against the purpose of these posters it paints a picture of failure; the choice of typography in its role of being a clear vessel to deliver a message fails on the count of it being inappropriate to the context, The choice of colour scheme and imagery; to create a poster that is engaging and inspiring, fails on the count of it being illegible, the lack of imagery; uninspiring, in comparison to what we have seen before. But while it’s easy to discuss the relative design failings of the posters, where there are ‘failures’ there are successes, this is the first time within this period that there is a truly cohesive and unified aesthetic within a campaign, the key takeaway that Middleton wanted to impart