World War One Posters

The topic of a recent lecture was partially based on world war one posters, which although I may be familiar with have never considered in depth before. Previous to the lecture I never thought about the number of meanings a single war poster could have or the differences between the German and British posters. When looking at the design of the war posters we were told to be objective and understanding of the cultural and political status. We also need to remember the audience, for example pizza fliers will appeal to ‘ordinary’ people rather than designers.

What was generally found when discussing the posters is that the German and Russian posters were perhaps more idealistic in comparison to the more realistic images portrayed by the British. The German and Russian posters also seem to be more ornate, compared to the bold images and simple text of the British posters.

It was also very interesting to discover that in the days of world war one British people were somewhat ashamed of being commercial artists. It was seen as a poor profession and something to be kept quiet. Many of those who produced the posters were untrained apprentices working for printers.

Below is an image of one of the war posters we discussed. This poster could have many meanings also suggested below.

• Perhaps the girl is asking the question ‘Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?’ and the father is looking away to portray that he didn’t sign up-regret, that he has let down his family, won’t be his children’s hero any more?
• The poster also perhaps challenges the father’s masculinity, as sitting talking to your children in those days was a woman’s job. Men dealt with politics and worked to provide for the family. Perhaps the poster suggests that real men sign up.
• The poster also suggests this family is quite wealthy, higher class.
• The toy soldiers the boys is playing with could suggest again that the boy looks up to his father, his father is his hero or that the boy could be the next generation of soldiers.

This lecture has made me consider wether something may have more than one meaning depending on the viewers race, class and gender for example. Many things are also likely to be more interesting than I originally think they are, also research in to areas non-specific to my course can be very interesting and useful.