Keep Calm Parody

Frank Chimero (a graphic designer) as a commentary on the ultra popular Keep Calm & Carry On posters, one sees everywhere & their parodies, combined the ever popular band t-shirt (I saw a lot of these shirts at Coachella). One graphic meme combined with another. I found it very clever and on point with over exposure of the same design.

According to the designers, Experimental Jetset, the original band t-shirt (John&Paul&George&Ringo) was a way for "pop-cultural imagery [to be] 'abstracted' through text." I love how simple, yet ingenious the design is. And while it's a little bit tired now, it's s

As for the ubiquitous Keep Calm & Cary On while incredibly clever at first, now makes me roll my eyes. Recently at a very decent, "authentic" Enghlish gastro pub where tokens of (sort of authentic) British national pride abounded, I noticed the poster and cringed. It now feels like it belongs in a Hallmark store, rather than a moderately upscale pub trying to sell itself as a true English hang out.

However, I do love the story of how the poster came to be so popular:

The video tells the story of the Keep Calm posters, which were commissioned by the government during the second world war as part of a wider poster campaign designed to boost morale among the civilian population. Some 2.5m copies of our poster were printed, but in the end they were kept back; "held in reserve, intended for use only in times of crisis or invasion", which happily never came. 50 years later, Stuart found one in a box of books he'd bought at auction, and Mary put it up by the till. Apparently, customers were so taken with it that the pair began making copies - and an iconic noughties image was born.