He was a member of a family of architects; his brother Jacques Carlu for example designed the Palais de Chaillot in Paris.

Jean Carlu started his career as a professional poster-designer in 1919, after a competition by a producer of dental aids (Glycodont) in 1918.

In that period he designed his first poster in art deco style (for The Kid by Charlie Chaplin).

He was one of the first who realised that to fix a trademark in the minds of consumers a process needs to be gone through in which schematic forms and expressive colours are applied.

[4] Carlu also designed posters for the Container Corporation of America, Pan American Airways, and Air France.