The Cunard Cruise Brochures
So far on the Timeline you'll have seen many images of the Caronia cruise brochure covers. What these fail to convey is the brochure format or describe their layout and content in any detail.
For the first few years the brochures for the main cruises were in fact folded deck plans where one whole side of a sheet 32” wide and 44” high was devoted only to the deck plans and the cruise rate schedule. The whole would be condensed into 4 folds producing in effect a 32 page document.
Whilst the main brochures came directly from the Cunard publicity department, both American Express and Thomas Cook would also produce their own versions, based upon the Cunard “parent”. Evidence of this can be seen with the 1954 North Cape Cruise brochures, where I have depicted both the main brochure and the Flyer from American Express.
An Interesting Design Psychology
The Cunard brochure, nearly always produced in the USA, was very cleverly designed, with the first opening giving just a two page spread. This had a large picture of the “Green Goddess” and a lyrically waxed synopsis of the forthcoming cruise.
The second opening would then have a dedicated 4 page spread, again with no clear grid, so pictures of all sizes would be placed without preserving the boundaries made by the folds. Nevertheless, the content would only serve to whet the appetite further.
The third opening would follow this pattern, even using a larger print size. However, you would need to wait until you got it home to be able to comfortably lay it out flat. Here was a tantalising poster, which increased the anticipation to open the fourth fold. The whole side of the sheet, revealed the ship's complete deck layout.
Unless you had a very large table, trying to match cabins to your price range as you dreamed about your cruise could only be done on the floor! Where better to relax and dream of a fantastic cruise?
Conventional Booklets
However, by about 1956, this type of brochure was replaced with the conventional folded and stapled booklet. The deck plan then being printed on a separate sheet of very flimsy paper, still with the 4 folds, and tucked into the back of the main brochure. From this point, the rates schedule would always be placed either on the back or inside the back cover of the brochure itself.
As the years progressed it became clear that the publicity budget had been cut to the point where the lavishness of the brochures was markedly curbed. The contents used, and reused, images from brochure to brochure, although right from the start a few of the ship-board images were not of or from the Caronia at all!
For example, all the images of people enjoying their cordon-bleu meals were not taken in either the Sandringham or the Balmoral restaurants. Even some of the deck shots were taken on the Cunard Queens, with one clearly from the Queen Elizabeth yet heavily retouched to pass it off as being any ship of the Cunard fleet.
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