apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i dont care what people say, i love my Keep Calm and Carry On poster. It is perfect, and i collect a ton of hand made, silk screened posters.

Right on, MFlick! I was just about to say the same thing about my Keep Calm poster.

throwing my own type poster in to the mix if anyone is interested. Hand screen printed. 3 inks, one a really nice metallic silver. Looks great in person. I have a few available

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22434987

I think all posters are equally terrible and would never hang a poster in my home. They are too teenage chic for me.

some more nice typographical posters can be found here; http://www.thesmallstakes.com/gallery.php?page=1# :-)

I was just thinking about the Keep Calm poster today. I actually have had one for a while now. I know it's "unpopular" now, but I like it. Here's why: my father, who I don't see very often and have very little in common with, wanted to know about it. I told him and he loved it. He went home and read about it himself. And now, I think of that every time I see it. Personally, that's pretty awesome. I don't think of a cliche anymore.

I still like "thimk"

This is a great post. It's a very interesting selection of posters. Pretty inspiring :D

imho, the worst part about the kc co poster is that it's not (in its AT-pimped manifestation) an original piece of graphic design, but instead a fairly uninspired, repurposed piece of decor... now, an original one from the 40s would be cool as a design artifact, methinks. however, many of the above, including scott hansen's work, are beautiful pieces of original design... to add to this list, check out the fun pirate-inspired posters at the 826valencia shop, inspired by award-winning (SF-based) office...

I agree with redneckmodern re the keep calm poster. It's an inexpensive splash of color--not unlike an orange pillow. Unfortunately, it is far more distinctive than an orange pillow and once you are familiar with it, you notice it straight away!

On the other hand, clearly medenver is ignorant of the role the poster has played in history. To casually categorize all posters as "teen chic" indicates little or no knowledge of the history of design. I want to be a the same yard sale as medenver--while they head for the slightly used toaster, I can snag the original Cheret or Mucha!

Those are great!

Some other here:

http://blueartstudio.blogspot.com/


joel pirela

I think the KC poster is a cliche in a certain crowd. Yeah, I see it frequently on all these design blogs but I have never seen one in any of my friends or family's homes so it's not THAT pervasive.

For me, the way we design our homes should be about the feeling. If a poster makes you feel like you want to barf every time you look at it (for whatever reason) then by all means take it down. But if it makes you feel good, regardless of how many other people have the same one, then keep it. Life's too short to deny yourself something simply because it's not "original." Frankly, there isn't much out there that is original. The first rule of art is that everything has been done before.

This is me giving bigwavejen a big hug.

I love my Keep Calm poster, so people need to step down from their design high horse and realize that some people enjoy things, not because they're one of a kind, rare, an artifact or unique (like my dad used to say "you're unique, just like everyone else.) I like it because I just do and it makes me smile.

I have a friend who is a grapic designer and I'm going to send her that "simple pledge" poster. Her hatred for comic sans and papyrus are longstanding and legendary. Cracked me up to see it on a poster. :)

the universal hatred for comic sans is.. well.. universal. its kind of like saying "i have this friend who is a professional chef, and he hates mcdonalds hamburgers."

ALSO, these are hardly designed, and i would like to contest the use of "typography" in relation to 75% of these.

buy more art. less text blocks.

I got my Keep Calm poster right before I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was oddly soothing advice throughout the ordeal. I'm keeping mine despite the dissing.

The brown "Hype Type" is the best one of the bunch. There is obvious thought and originality that went into it. It's not just a bunch of letters smashed together in Illustrator.

To respond to the Keep Calm poster, I don't think everybody is hating on it because of the design, but the ubiquity. Good design will always remain good design. However, (much like anything mid-centrury modern nowadays) good design can become annoying when it's overused.

I am just tired of this genre of posters altogether.

The only thing I hate about the Keep Calm poster is that most people put it in that IKEA frame with the ill-fitting mat. That mat and that poster are incompatible: it's all crowding in on the crown and the "on"! Get a mat with the proper dimensions for your poster, please.

thank you cindycindy--that is always what bothers me as well. I don't have a problem with the poster, but it just doesn't fit in that frame!

What we need in Seattle is a "Keep CLAM and Carry On" poster... Ivar would have wanted it that way.

I've never actually seen 'Keep Calm And Carry On' in my friend's and family's houses. I've seen a pillow ONCE, and that was for a client, so the only place its overdone for me is here on AT and other design blogs. Its often the first thing I see in a room, just because its so recognizable.

Even so, I don't hate it. I think AT is largely meant to be about design on a budget, and posters with a splash of colour are a great way to do that, right?

Personally, I really like type posters. I especially like them when they're not just posters, but original silk screens. Silk screens support artists and make my home beautiful - win win!

"Backlash" against a poster? Perhaps DWR should sell lives...

mlleErica - I'm a graphic designer and I love that poster too. She would love it!

SeattleMama, you just made me smile!

Considering the first time in my life I'd ever seen the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was in a post talking about how overused it is...I don't think it's over used, not among ordinary peasants like myself. Neither is vintage mcm furniture, because -it's too dang expensive-. For a site about design on the cheap, AT's readers are oddly dismissive of things ordinary people can afford. Like posters, which are, after all, pretty much the same thing as prints.

haha, before I knew the story behind the Keep Calm poster, it always reminded me of Tim Gunn. It just sounds like something he'd say on Project Runway.

My father is recovering from a stroke. Although he is 88, he is refusing to give up and accept his limitations. Like a lot of people, he lost about half his assets last year, which was another blow. I was trying to explain the Keep Calm and Carry On poster to him over the telphone the last time we talked. Since he's pretty deaf, I'm not sure he understood everything I said. I'm going to send him one. I doubt that he looks at design blogs, so he won't know how "overdone" it is.

I think the poster and the story behind it will be a positive message. He is a World War II era vet, and is well aware of what the British went through. He is also of that generation who accepted a lot of limitations stoically, and the message will appeal to him.

Just a story from one who occasionally gets fed up herself with the ubiquitous KCCO poster. But a poster can mean different things to different people. He is a long-time movable type lead press printer -- kind of a pioneer in reforging interest in the medium. He can't print any more, but appreciates good graphic design.

Most of these look like the posters that type houses have been sending out-- for free-- as direct mail pieces for the last twenty years.

But why can't that be-- or inspire-- art?

But I love all things typographic, even if many of these are inside-- and one-punchline-- jokes.

AustinSarah2--

Hang in there with Dad.