Britishness Application: Visual Research and History

For the Britishness application, the visual identity of the product will be a crucial aspect as it be how users will associate themselves with the product. To do this, I did some research into how in the past, Britishness has been conveyed through artwork and media. This lead me to War Time Propaganda posters for World War 2. They are all icons and powerful pieces of visual work in order to prepare for the project, I felt like I needed to look at some and understand them.

Each of these is a poster with a fairly simple layout. Each has been illustrated instead of using photographs to create stronger visuals than what could be done photographically. The text is very small but is either a phrase or sentence that has a powerful message. For example, the final image says "Salvage! Every Little Helps" so very short but worded as if an order for a strong effect on the reader. The colours are simple in places but some parts are very detailed to help with the visual message of each poster. The third poster has been given extra detail because it needs to show a real coin to give the metaphor of the reader's money directly effecting the war. I strongly feel that these images are as iconic as anything else in our history. At a time when Britain was basically defined for the next century with phrases like the 'Blitz Spirit' emerging. There was always a focus on the people at the time with the idea that anyone could help in the war; regardless of whether they carried a gun or not.