


2010
The financial crunch of 2009 inspired a lot of comparisons to the "way things were" in the 30s. The Works Progress Administration, WPA, was created in 1935 to generate public jobs for the unemployed. During the WPA years, thousands of graphic artists were employed to create public awareness posters promoting everything from health and hygiene to the war effort. The posters from this era share a certain aesthetic—simple shapes, high contrast, bold type—due in part to the simple screen printing used for reproduction and also borrowing from the art deco movement of the time. The "WPA look" seemed like a timely inspiration for this American Health Information Management Association poster promoting the importance of protecting health information to the entire healthcare community.