Stylogeny combining Googie × Streamline Moderne

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Style combination · Pairs well

Googie × Streamline Moderne

Googie is Streamline's post-war heir; combine their curves and speed lines for retro diner, travel or automotive branding.

From the research on Streamline Moderne

Mix them and make something Googie Streamline Moderne

FutureGoogie × Streamline Moderne1945 · 1930
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Googie, their arrangement from Googie, the finish from Streamline Moderne. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

01

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Googie & Atomic Age Streamline Moderne

Type from Googie
Colour from Streamline Moderne
Form from Googie

Streamline Moderne avoids angular & zigzag: this is where the two pull against each other.

Composition from Googie
Surface from Streamline Moderne

02

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Googie

Future

Yellowtail, standing in for Brush Script (Robert E. Smith, 1942)

Text · Streamline Moderne

The late, chiefly American phase of Art Deco, in which aerodynamic science became a visual language for a Depression-era culture hungry for progress. Industrial designers and illustrators wrapped trains, radios, diners and posters in teardrop curves, horizontal speed lines, rounded corners and airbrushed chrome, selling the 'World of Tomorrow' at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Jost; Streamline Moderne used Huxley Vertical and Agency Gothic

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Streamline Moderne, with a counter-accent from Googie. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Googie & Atomic Age Streamline Moderne

  • #e8dcc2 ground · 36%
  • #2b2b2b ink · 14%
  • #d9822b accent · 18%
  • #1f3a5f accent · 14%
  • #40b5ad accent · 10%
  • #7fa7b8 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #e8dcc2;
  --ink: #2b2b2b;
  --accent-1: #d9822b;
  --accent-2: #1f3a5f;
  --accent-3: #40b5ad;
  --accent-4: #7fa7b8;
  --font-display: "Yellowtail", cursive;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A glowing retro space-themed sign reads “Orbit Bites” in large turquoise and orange cursive on a dark navy background. A rocket, ringed planet, starbursts, sweeping yellow trails and angular pink panels surround the lettering. 1945–1965 · North America Googie & Atomic Age The exuberant commercial modernism of post-war American roadside culture (coffee shops, motels, car washes, bowling alleys and neon signs), named in 1952 by critic Douglas Haskell after John Lautner's Googie's coffee shop in Los Angeles (1949). Upswept roofs, boomerangs, starbursts, atoms and parabolic arches worked as giant signs for passing drivers, with casual scripts and neon promising a Space Age future. A streamlined silver-and-orange passenger train races along converging tracks beneath the large word “SKYLINE.” Rounded futuristic towers rise against a large pale sun in a deep blue sky. 1930–1945 · North America Streamline Moderne The late, chiefly American phase of Art Deco, in which aerodynamic science became a visual language for a Depression-era culture hungry for progress. Industrial designers and illustrators wrapped trains, radios, diners and posters in teardrop curves, horizontal speed lines, rounded corners and airbrushed chrome, selling the 'World of Tomorrow' at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

05

More combinations

With Googie

All 17 combinations with Googie

With Streamline Moderne

Every style combination