Safety First: George Nelson Explains It All!

“They communicate fast. And with style and wit,” noted the circa-1965 promotional copy for Howard Miller’s Pronto Posters, designed by the George Nelson & Associates team of Bill Cannan, Lance Wyman, and Irving Harper. Screenprinted onto sturdy masonite(“treated so as to stay new-looking and be used and re-used for years”), the set of 24 placards tackled a range of freshly minted workplace safety regulations and best practices, from the strategically bandaged figures of “Wear Your Helmet” and “Use Your Safety Guards” to pseudocharred “Flammable” and “Think,” in which our magenta man has forgotten his pants.