Design Research Unit: The Firm that Branded Britain

Very interesting article in the Guardian, with links to picture gallery

We use the word "austerity" so freely these days that we could be forgiven for forgetting that there was an original "age of austerity". The immediate postwar years may be best remembered for rationing and queues, but as the nation geared up for reconstruction, British design was coming into its own. One firm in particular stands out: the Design Research Unit. It was the first multidisciplinary design agency in the country, working across architecture, products and graphic design – a feat that is still rare today. And although you may not have heard of the DRU, its work will be familiar: it includes design items as various as the British Rail logo, every street sign in central London, seat covers on the District line of the tube and hundreds of pub signs across the country. In short, the design that has helped generations of Britons get to work, steered them through the city streets, and then pointed them towards an after-hours pint. At last, courtesy of the Cubitt Gallery in London, the firm that defined British design for three decades is getting a reappraisal.