Blood On Your Hands: A Decision

Lester Beall loved to put confrontation of opposing sides into his designs. This is one such piece. In this 1939 ad created for the Crowell Publishing Company, the question "Will there be war?" is asked. The purpose of this ad is to force Americans to choose a side pertaining to either joining the Allied Forces in World War II, or to stay out of the war altogether. The image shows Winston Churchill in front of a red hand print. The red can symbolize getting blood on one's hands, danger, fear, and the tension between the conflicting sides of the argument. The text for "will there be war" is slanted at a diagonal to go along with Winston Churchill's image, which creates an undecided feeling, much like the decision Americans were looming on. Winston Churchill warned about the dangers of Nazi Germany, so the use of his image is justified. The letters in "war" are bold and bigger than the rest of the type to stand out as the driven force behind the making of the image. I love the use of red against a white background, as well as including the complementary color green as the border, which really makes the hand print stand out and pop off the page. This design is very edgy and bold. I found this image in American Modernism: Graphic Design, 1920 to 1960 by R. Roger Remington.