Stuck for design inspiration? Not just for trainspotters, the London Transport Museum has an extraordinary collection of over 5,000 posters in their online archive. Spanning a century of graphic design, the collection features posters inspired by Surrealism, Vorticism, Pop Art, Fauvism – indeed most of the major movements in painting during this period. Not only a visual treasure trove, it offers a fascinating insight into the lives of ordinary Londoners: how they lived and spent their leisure time, how they survived two world wars, how the city continues to stretch and grow. Here is a selection depicting London entertainment:
The West End is awakening, by Ernest Michael Dinkel, 1931
City, by Edward Bawden, 1952
Pantomimes and circuses, by Joan Beales, 1954
The City of London, by Abram Games, 1964
Take your travelcard to the pictures, by unknown artist, 1987
West End entertainments, by Donna Muir and Su Huntley, 1987
All images © Transport for London from http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters.
Students on the MA Character Animation course at Central Saint Martins are just starting on a new Moving Posters assignment inspired by 10 historic posters that were designed by former students or staff from the college. Their animation work will be featured alongside the original posters in an exhibition in the Window Gallery at CSM in May and will be available to download in the London Transport Museum via QR code on mobile phones by the end of March. Contact us if you would like to be invited to the Window Gallery private view on Friday May 11th in Kings Cross, London.
Expanded Animation 
I do especially like Muir and Huntley’s pieces, but am quite tickled that in 1987 a poster still uses ‘pictures’ instead of ‘see a film’ or ‘cinema’.
It’s like my grandma saying ‘cine’.