© Hans Schleger (Zéró) estate

During the war, Schleger was commissioned by London Passenger Transport Board, the General Post Office (GPO) and the Ministry of Food to produce information posters including the latter’s famous ‘Grow Your Own’ posters for the Dig for Victory campaign. Christian Barman, Publicity Officer for London Transport, also commissioned Schleger to design posters to warn passengers to take care during the blackout. Schleger's bold graphic designs often wittily incorporate a play on the image of a circle or zero and have stylistic affinities with German refugee John Heartfield’s photomontage.

After the war Barman asked Schleger to produce a series of poster designs celebrating ordinary LPTB employees, of which art historian Jonathan Black has observed, ‘Schleger especially savoured the commission because he had lived in London throughout the Blitz and felt greatly indebted to the wry, quiet courage of thousands of transport workers, firemen, ARP wardens and the members of Heavy and Light Rescue Teams, who allowed him to make frequent journeys to the offices of the Ministry of Information and of the LPTB, in the bomb ravaged centre of the city. The Hands At Your Service series of posters, the last he produced which are imbued with the spirit of the war, were very much his personal tribute to ordinary Londoners whose courage he found extraordinary. Indeed, they provided shining proof that people in uniform were there to serve rather than intimidate or coerce the public’.