1930 Key Examples From
1950 Graphic Design Travel Household Appliances
Graphic Design
By the late 1930s, Streamline design had become so popular that it had developed its own modernistic style in Graphic Design.
The access to colour printers gave graphic designers new ways to change their tired, old fashioned looking advertisements, increasing visibility and giving product packaging a greater function by radiating an aura of excitement. Ziggurats and lightning bolts, borrowed from the Art Deco movement, were streamlined into icons and colour palettes were simple yet eye catching, using yellows, reds and oranges against grey tones. Posters were being characterised by symmetrical and curvaceous shapes accompanied by a contrasting mixture of flourished scripts and bold, condensed typefaces. This particular style of Graphic Design was used in posters promoting streamlined trains or in advertisements for aluminium, brass and magnesium suppliers. Minimalistic horizontal lines were used to express speed whilst trains were depicted in huge disproportion to their surroundings, emphasising the growing demand for these particular materials.
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Huxley The Huxley Vertical font was designed by the American typographer, Walter Huxley, for the American Type Founders. The font has no hard angles but smooth rounded tips. The long straight lines resemble those of the body of an aircraft of a train.
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Travel
The Streamline movement was born after aerodynamic studies proved that, by adopting a teardrop shape, means of transportation were able to reduce resistance from water and wind, enabling them to move more effortlessly. Streamline Design has been vital in the development of aeroplanes, which are Streamlined to reduce drag, the aerodynamic force that opposes an aircraft’s motion through the air, to minimise noiseemissions and to increase their stability.
The First major Aeroplane was named the Douglas DST which took its first flight in 1935. Built in Southern California by the Douglas Aircraft Company, the plane was built for military purposes and flew Allied soldiers and supplies into combat. Its range, power and speed revolutionised air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. It was eventually sold to American Air Lines in Chicago and was approved for national flights, transporting people across America day and night.
The first ever streamlined train to ride the tracks was called the Burlington Zephyr, also known as the Silver Streak. Built in 1934, it travelled from Denver to Chicago in less than 14 hours, making it twice as fast as other, regular trains. The exterior of the locomotive was smoothened down by covering up any protrusions with stainless steel, creating less resistance to water and wind.
It didn’t take long for the idea to be repeated and, within ten years, the style had travelled to England, Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Japan and China. The streamline idea then went on to radically change the shape of cars. The Hupmobile, designed by Raymond Loewy in 1932, Loewy was not able to convince his management of the success that the car would attain and had to fund the making of the vehicle himself, spending over twenty thousand dollars. His gamble payed off, as the Hupmobile won first prize at all of the car shows in which it was entered- Norman Bel Geddes’ automobile designs focused more on the aim of transporting as many people as possible, the model below was named Car no.8, a design that would have seated up to 8 people.
The model, created in 1933, featured six wheels, large windows, no tail fin and a flattened underside. Ironically, there were issues with the aerodynamics of the vehicle concerning the flow pattern around the back and underside which would cause a drag effect, slowing it down, reducing it’s potential speed. Bel Geddes later incorporated key features from airplane designs to his Streamlined car, allowing better airflow and aerodynamics. A tail fin was added, which would slice through the air, cutting friction and two more front wheels were built into the front of the car to level out the weight. The car was wrapped in chrome, to make it look even more similar to an aeroplane. Although the models were never realised, they inspired later streamlined designs; the ‘fishtail’ bottom started to appear on various cars in the mid 1940′s.
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Household Appliances
The streamline movement was becoming a symbol of progression and started to influence industrial designers making household products. The notion was that these new streamlined appliances would make housework easier and less time consuming, as well as giving people a chance to fight the depression through the act of consuming. As the movement took off, designers started to streamline everything and anything they could get their hands on, from irons to staplers to underwear. Vintage streamlined products can be found in the Museum of Design in Plastics, at the Arts University in Bournemouth.
Morpyh Richards Electric Iorn Arts University Bournemouth, MODIP Photography by Etty Flynn
This Morphy Richards electric iron is a perfect example of how the design of a household product can be inspired by the architecture of a train. The teardrop shape of the metal is identical to that of a locomotive. It’s easy to imagine how the consumer would have been seduced by the idea that the teardrop shape would have made their housework swift and more time effective.
Salter Kitchen Scale Arts University Bournemouth, MODIP Photography by Etty Flynn
These Salter kitchen scales were made towards the end of the streamline movement, in 1950, but still ooze an aura of excitement for progression; The plastic container sat on top of the scales is a literal interpretation of the famous teardrop, but in this case the shape is logical, making it easier to pour the content being measured into the next container. The scales wouldn’t express optimism so effectively without their phosphorescent yellow body, complete with slanted edges, resembling those of a train’s engine.
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