Bold Dutch lettering shouts “LAAT UW HAREN LIEVER AFKNIPPEN” across the top, immediately setting a cautionary tone that feels unmistakably 1920s in its directness. Jacob Jansma’s 1925 poster uses a limited palette of greens, reds, and creams to create high contrast and instant legibility—hallmarks of effective graphic design meant for public walls and quick glances. The typography and layout work like a command, turning a safety message into something you can’t easily ignore.
At the center, a worker recoils as a spinning drill bit looms beside his hair, the scene rendered with sharp angles and expressive distortion. The figure’s clenched face and outstretched hands convey panic in a single frozen moment, a visual shorthand for the risks of machinery and loose hair in the workplace. Rather than relying on technical explanation, the artist builds empathy and urgency through body language, making the poster readable even before you process the words.
Down below, the warning continues with “DAN UITTREKKEN,” reinforcing the idea that prevention—cutting hair—is better than the violent alternative of having it torn out. Small-print details point to a safety museum in Amsterdam, grounding the work in the broader early twentieth-century movement for industrial accident prevention and public education. For collectors and researchers of Dutch poster art, workplace safety history, and interwar design, this Jansma print stands as a striking example of how illustration and typography were harnessed to change everyday behavior.