Industrial Democracy at Work cover – Industrial Production, Carl Dair, 1946

The cover for Industrial Democracy at Work shows that Dair had been paying close attention to contemporary European and American design. It is modernist, but with a war-time overtone, as evidenced by the use of the bold all cap military-style stencil lettering on a rough sign post. Nothing is secure, or comfortable, the acute angles feel like fighter planes manoeuvering in the sky. The arrows rain down like bombs.

Notes

Carl Dair’s first job as a typographer, was Type Director, Graphics Division, at the newly formed National Film Board (NFB) in Montreal. He was only with the NFB for two years and in his biography, ‘Typecast for Thirty Years’,* he simply mentions that; “In 1945, Donald Buchanan invited me to join the graphics division of the National Film Board.” Throughout the Second World War, and for some time after, the NFB also acted as a public relations agency for the Canadian government, creating film and print material for various government departments such as the Industrial Production Co-operation Board.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s Dair would occasionally earn a little money by painting signs. That experience, along with a life-long interest in calligraphy, helped prepare him for his later role as a graphic designer. Throughout his career Dair would often use his own hand lettering to add a unique, and inexpensive, touch to his work. – Rod McDonald

*Canadian Printer and Publisher, November 1960.

Category
Publications
Title
Industrial Democracy at Work
Date
1946
Client
Industrial Production Co-operation Board
Credits
Design: Carl Dair (1912–1967)
Principal Typefaces
Cover: hand-lettered stencil. Alternate Gothic No.1
Description
Cover, two-colour, booklet; 38 pp
Size: 6.5 × 10 inches
Regions
Quebec
Languages
English
Number of images
1
Holding
The Carl Dair Papers at the Robertson Davies Library Massey College, University of Toronto
Artifact copyright: CTA was unable to clarify rights but welcomes contact from rightsholders to resolve permissions, if required, and will remove digitized works at the rightsholder’s request (rightsholders may contact CTA at copyright@canadiantypography.ca). CTA makes digitized works available for education and research. Responsibility for any use rests with the user.
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