Keep Calm and Carry On

This poster, shown below, has recently seen heaps of press. It has been photographed tacked to the walls of hipster dwellings on both sides of the pond. For one I am fascinated by the clean design: reverse print, sans serif Century Gothic font, normally alarming color that takes on a soothing quality induced by the text.

Beyond style, the origin of this poster is what is truly interesting. In 1939 on the cusp of an inevitable war with Germany, King George VI wanted to issue propaganda posters to reassure his people. No one knows who coined the slogan, and interestingly, the posters were not widely displayed. 50 years later a tattered copy resurfaced in a book and they are now reproduced and for sale on the UK-based site: Keep Calm and Carry On.To me this statement is an historical reminder that if you keep mucking ahead survival and success are an inevitable reward.

On this Fourth of July let us remember the Americans who mucked ahead for our independence in 1776-ish (ironically against the very country that issued the poster above...) and that their determination, tenacity, and passion created a nation unlike any other in the World.