Overview

Based on the poster collection of the British Postal Museum and Archive, this book 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, it features over 100 posters commissioned by the GPO from 1930-1970. The work included showcases the pioneering spirit of the GPO by artists at the centre of good design in Britain such as E. McKnight Kauffer and Tom Eckersley.

This book is part of the "Design" series which is the winner of the Brand/Series Identity Category at the British Book Design and Production Awards 2009, judges said: 'A series of books about design, they had to be good and these are. The branding is consistent, there is a good use of typography and the covers are superb.'

Paul Rennie is Head of Context in the School of Graphic Design at Central St Martin's, London.