Design for Impact: Fifty Years of Airline Safety Cards

by Eric Ericson, Carl Reese

Impact is a loving, if occasionally wry, look at the safety cards that air travelers inevitably encounter and stuff away behind their in-flight magazines. It entwines graphic and aviation history, and it traces these icons of universal design from the kitschy - for Pan-Am's Flying Clipper in the 1930s - to the sanitized pictograms used on today's jumbo jets. Taken from their seatbacks and gathered together here, the cards of Design for Impact offer a humorous look at a basic - and urgent - form of visual communication.

Genres: Design, Travel

176 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kelly]

Strangely unique. That's the best description I can give this book. There's a man who collects airline safety cards (apparently he has over 70,000 of them). This book explains the different eras of air travel and highlights a handful of various safety cards.

[Powells.com]

I've always thought about collecting these but my slight fear of stewardesses has always kept me from slipping safety cards into my carry-on. Are they complimentary like the in-flight magazine? Or if I take one, will the next person who later sits in my seat have an unsafe experience? Understandable in any language, safety cards are an overlooked underground art. Thankfully, collected here is a wonderful international history of these laminated gems, dedicated to save your life and that of the child sitting next to you. Very informative with great illustratations throughout.
Recommended by Amy

[Catherine]

An interesting coffee-table book.