Don’t forget your purchase order – postcard, Cooper & Beatty, Tony Mann, 1964

Before email, purchase order forms were supposed to be delivered with the order or filled out by hand and sent via post. Since this piece went out with the job, there was a real risk it could be overlooked. A missing purchase order number could mean an unwanted delay – or sometimes the job couldn’t proceed at all.

This piece was created in 1964 by Tony Mann, Creative Director at Cooper & Beatty, to remind clients of the importance of including a purchase order with each typesetting job. It was part of an ongoing effort to reinforce clear communication between type shops and their clients, particularly as jobs grew more complex and time-sensitive.

Mann’s solution is both clever and concise: a visual pun based on the old-fashioned memory aid of tying a string around one’s finger. The hand illustration – a classic ‘pointing hand’– is paired with a real piece of red string, giving the piece a tactile, memorable quality. The inclusion of an actual piece of string was unexpected – a small shock that emphasized the seriousness of the message. The typography, set in Univers, is clean and unobtrusive. Every detail of this piece reinforces the central message: remember to include the purchase order form. – Rod McDonald

Artifact Text

Please don’t forget to send us your purchase order for the enclosed job which is now completed, and mail to Cooper & Beatty, Limited, 401 Wellington W., Toronto 2B