If you have ever gone to design school, you probably have taken an art history course that covered the topic of ww1 propaganda posters and wwii propaganda posters. The use of propaganda dates back many years, but at the time of these wars the use of posters as propaganda took off to a point where almost every country involved had commissioned graphic designers with the task of creating a vast array of posters.
Propaganda posters were used as a means of justifying involvement in the war to ones countrymen, but also as a means of obtaining new recruits, money and resources to fuel the military campaign.
More Propaganda Posters to Come
Below is a sampling of some of the most popular ww1 propaganda posters and wwii propaganda posters from the United States. We will cover the poster designs of other countries in future posts!
U.S.A. WW1 Propaganda Posters
WW1 propaganda posters were created to convey a variety of messages on topics such as recruitment, bonds and rationing of supplies. The U.S.A. entered World War One in April 1917, but still created many more propaganda posters than any other nation. Below is a sampling of some of the most well known posters.
U.S.A. WWII Propaganda Posters
WWII propaganda posters were created to convey a variety of messages on topics such as the armed forces, anti-axis, loose lips, women at war, partiotics and war bonds. Below is a sampling of some of the most well known posters.
Which designs are your favorite and which country would you like to see posters from next?
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Wow, so many great posters. The last couple are very heavy – lots of fire and smoke. I personally like the first one. That one is so quaint today – could anyone imagine today’s army requesting books? Support the troops… with literature!
There’s also the classic Uncle Sam, that’s lasted in pop culture for so many years.
As a Canadian, I’ll request to see the posters of the great white north, but I’d really like to see the German ones too, they’re badass. And the beautiful Russian constructionist ones too!
- jams
Jams – yeah i tried to show a lot of classic posters, and the Russian posters are my fav! I will def be doing them.
These are awesome. The time that must have gone into the design and artwork of some of these is incredible!
Its such a shame that a lot of the original artists’ names have been lost down the years.
As I’m from Scotland, some British propaganda posters would be good to see :) I agree with Jams and Gino about the Russian ones, they look amazing.
[...] was looking at WW2 propaganda posters from the USA, after checking out the following post on YOU THE [...]
Great article. Really gave me an inspirational kick.
Featured on my website :).
Looking forward to the next part(s)!
Greetings,
Marco
Hi! I am a Japanese. Though I looked for English study in various ways, I commented because contents were interesting. I was able to enjoy it very much. In addition, I come to look. Please keep it for us. Thank you!
is that darth vader in the middle column third row from the bottom?
id like to see some english posters too, but Germany and Russia are definitely cool too.
Wow thanks a bunch, i actualy collect these and they are hard to find on the web.
The “He’s watching you” one is hilarious! I can’t help but see Darth Vader!
I love this post! Propaganda posters are such amazing examples of cultural branding and marketing.
It would be cool to see some Chinese propaganda posters. Japanese civil defense information posters are very interesting as well.
Michael – Yes its extremely difficult to find name and such nowadays. It took me a very long time to even organize these posters.
I was hoping I still had my design history book from school, so i could look up some names of designers, but I don’t seem to have it anymore.
Marco – Hey Marco I’m glad you found it inspiring, I’m going to have a hard time figuring out which ones to feature next! Thanks for linking to us.
Zach – Sure does look like him, wonder if that was a source of inspiration for mr. vader
[...] Old war/propaganda posters [...]
I did my thesis on WWI American Propaganda posters. An interesting fact that not many people know is that most all the designs were done by East European Artists that fled Europe due to the war. And in the later years of the war almost all the posters were created and produced by private companies. Something else I found interesting is that most of them were very small. 10x 20 inchs or so.
Doug – Thanks for the info, very interesting!
first off i want to say that i’m new to the site and i love it. thanks for all the great information!
anyways, i wanted to drop a message concerning other political posters. http://www.ospaaal.com houses plenty of posters from the “organization of solidarity of the people of asia, africa, and latin america. love the many different countries represented and artwork styles. follow their link to their ebay store where you can find many posters for sale as well as their book. i purchased the book and love it.
hope everyone finds it as interesting as i did. let me know your thoughts.
These are great. If anyone likes this kind of thing I recommend checking out Milton Glaser’s book “The Design of Dissent” it’s just full of socially or politically inspired posters and design work. A really great book, I got it as a graduation present when I finished design school.
I also have a request. Does anyone know of a company that would be able to provide or sell high res versions of these images? The company I work for is launching a print making devision and we’d love to be able to make some propaganda giclée prints available.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Can you show a collection of propaganda posters from China?
Thanks.
They are all beautifully design posters. Always love the old school way of designing they all have. Back in the day when clients didn’t ask for gimicks like they do today (shadows, bevels, glows). Instead simple design comes across with a very strong message. Something which should never be under estimated. Character design was also wonderfully constructed and well thought out, attention to proportions, costume design, light and layout all appear as natural.
This is a wonderful collection and a very nice post to boot.
Ha Ha Nice collection!
Anish – Glad you liked the collection
Thank you for a nice collection of colorful posters.
some German ones would be cool!!