Today is a bank holiday to celebrate the day that 75 years ago marked Victory in Europe. With the current Covid-19 Lockdown restrictions, the remembrance will be less prominent in public, although with people forced to stay at home, it might actually mean that they reflect more about the event. Most of the coverage is focused on those that served in the armed forces (and quite rightly so) but I thought I'd write today about an individual who was a designer, typographer and illustrator, who also wore a uniform.
Some of you will have heard of Abram Games. During the Second World War he was appointed 'Official War Poster Artist' and designed over 100 posters. It's worth remembering that posters were one of the most effective ways of getting messages across to a mass of people and had equal if not greater importance than newspapers, magazines or the radio; and exceptionally well designed posters could be exceptionally effective!
I was fortunate enough to meet his daughter, Naomi Games, who gave an excellent talk about his life and work, including the war years.
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| Click on images to enlarge |
Abram Games was born in 1914. He attended St Martin's School of Art and was already working as a commercial artist before the war. Following 6 months training in the infantry, he was transferred as a draughtsman and after winning a competition to design a poster, was posted to the War Office in June 1941 and his work designing posters for the war effort began.
These images are taken from a booklet about the work of Abram Games, printed on Omnia, which I wrote about
here.
In November 1942 he was promoted to Lieutenant and became the Official War Poster Artist, a title never before or since claimed by any other artist. You can see much more of his work here:
https://www.abramgames.com/
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| Click on images to enlarge |
He tried to re-join his regiment, concerned that he had a "cushy job". His commanding officer replied
'You have been appointed to do a job and as far as the army is concerned, you are the only man who can do this and you will bloody well get on and do it! We can always replace a soldier, but we cannot replace you'. He ended the war as a Captain and had designed over 100 posters. Very few examples survive, as they were pinned or pasted up and rarely endured the war.
Last year, there was an excellent exhibition of his wartime posters at the
National Army Museum called
'The Art of Persuasion' and I was kindly shown round by Malcom Clarke at the NAM.
Alistair Hall of
We Made This wrote about his visit to the exhibition in an article which puts my writing and photography on this blog to shame! ...so I suggest you have a look:
https://www.wemadethis.co.uk/blog/2019/04/abram-games-the-art-of-persuasion/
Here is the exhibition guide...
After the war, Abram Games had a wonderfully successful career with a prodigious output. He designed the symbol for the 1951 Festival of Britain and clients included Guinness, the Financial Times, British Airways, London Transport and British Rail.
Although not serving on the front line, Abram Games was an exceptionally important part of the war effort and like the millions of other exceptional, yet ordinary, people who made their own quiet contribution to the eventual victory over the Nazis, deserves to be celebrated.
https://www.abramgames.com/
https://www.nam.ac.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 08.05.2020
The Crown Estate is an independent commercial business, created by Act of Parliament. They invest in and manage some of the UK's most important assets and have a diverse portfolio of UK buildings, shoreline, seabed, forestry, agriculture and common land. The business generates valuable revenue for the government and over the last 10 years has contributed £2.6 billion.
Creative Print is manufactured by Euler in Germany, which is part of the Koehler Paper Group. The range carries the "Blue Angel" certification. Introduced in 1978, the Blue Angel scheme is the oldest ecolabel in the world, and it covers some 10,000 products in some 80 product categories. The scheme is rigorously policed and gives total credibility to any product that is awarded the label, which I'm sure is just one very good reason that this paper was chosen to print this report on. Below is the credit page which appears in the back of the report which references the Blue Angel accreditation. 
Design Interview 1Q is a You Tube channel set up by Fabio Mario Rizzotti to generate content to share with all of us trapped in the current lockdown situation. While the world has stopped Mario has been busier than ever with a series of online interviews about design. He has interviewed some great people, exploring their philosophies and thoughts - not just a showcase of that interviewee and their work but a much deeper and more insightful discussion.
During the Covid-19 Lockdown period, Fenner Paper has supported a social project called The Make Bank. It was set up a year ago by Kirsty Thomas, founder of Tom Pigeon, to provide support and materials for disadvantaged school pupils to enable them to pursue creative education and creative careers. Their work is predominantly with senior pupils and they have sent over 200 kits out to young people in the past 12 months.
Some of you will have heard of Abram Games. During the Second World War he was appointed 'Official War Poster Artist' and designed over 100 posters. It's worth remembering that posters were one of the most effective ways of getting messages across to a mass of people and had equal if not greater importance than newspapers, magazines or the radio; and exceptionally well designed posters could be exceptionally effective!
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