Poster; Traffic, by William Kerridge Haselden, 1920

This poster was designed for the Underground Electric Railway Company in 1920 by the celebrated cartoonist William Kerridge Haselden. Haselden had been producing cartoons for the Daily Mirror since 1904, and his style would have been familiar among Underground passengers. The poster was designed to remind passengers to travel at off-peak times where possible. The Underground system was experiencing a period of rapid growth. As more and more people began to commute to work by Tube, overcrowding during peak travel times became a problem. Haselden's perceptive and witty style was eye-catching and memorable, without being overbearing. Haselden produced thousands of cartoons in this style, which consisted of a single frame divided into a number of panels. The format became extremely popular and Haselden was heralded father of the British cartoon strip.