# 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.

- Period: 1945–1965
- Where: North America
- Origin: Southern California and Las Vegas roadside architecture and signage, USA
- Branch: Pictorial & machine age
- Also known as: Googie architecture, Populuxe, Atomic Age design, Doo-wop architecture
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/googie/

## How it works

- Tilt everything upward and outward into cantilevered, angled and swept-back shapes that look ready for lift-off.
- Punctuate surfaces with starbursts, sputnik atoms, orbits and boomerangs as free-floating ornament.
- Write names in bouncing casual brush scripts or neon-tube lettering on angled, free-form sign panels.
- Combine biomorphic amoeba and kidney shapes with sharp fins, parabolas and zigzags.
- Use optimistic turquoise, coral, atomic orange and lemon on cream or night-sky grounds, lit by neon.
- Design for the car: make signs big and bold enough to read from the road at speed.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (defining)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Script](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/script/) (defining)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (characteristic)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (occasional)
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Pastel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pastel/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Fluorescent & neon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/fluorescent-and-neon/) (characteristic)
- [Dark ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dark-ground/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (defining)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Chrome & 3D render](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/chrome-and-3d-render/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Cosmic & celestial](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/cosmic-and-celestial/) (defining)
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (characteristic)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (defining)
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Technological & futurist](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/technological-and-futurist/) (defining)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (characteristic)

Avoids: Ornament-free, Floral & vegetal, Central symmetry, Modular grid, Blackletter, Earth & mineral

Palette: #40b5ad, #f2673a, #f6cf3f, #f3ead6, #1e2b4a, #e8879c

Typefaces: Neon-tube script lettering, Dom Casual (Peter Dom, 1952), Brush Script (Robert E. Smith, 1942), Mistral (Roger Excoffon, 1953)

Known for: John Lautner (Googie's coffee shop, Los Angeles, 1949); Douglas Haskell, ‘Googie Architecture’, House & Home (February 1952); Armét & Davis (Norms, Pann's and other Los Angeles coffee shops); Betty Willis (‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign, 1959); Theme Building, Los Angeles International Airport (Pereira & Luckman with Paul R. Williams, 1961); Hanna-Barbera, The Jetsons (1962)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Streamline Moderne](https://stylogeny.com/styles/streamline-moderne.md) (1930–1945)
- Influenced by: [American Mid-Century Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/american-modernism.md) (1940–1970)
- Alike in its design choices: [Thaw Modernism (Soviet and Czechoslovak)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/thaw-modernism.md) (1956–1968), 53% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Polish Cold War Neon (PRL Neonisation)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/polish-cold-war-neon.md) (1956–1981), 46% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Memphis Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/memphis.md) (1981–1988), 43% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Casablanca School Graphic Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/casablanca-school.md) (1962–1987), 40% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Belle Époque Lithographic Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/belle-epoque-poster.md) (1866–1914), 40% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Italian Futurism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/futurism.md) (1909–1944), 40% alike

## Real works

- ['Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2012.10.05.175945_Welcome_sign_Las_Vegas_Nevada.jpg): Betty Willis (design), built by Western Neon; photograph by Hermann Luyken, 1959 (sign); photographed 5 October 2012, Wikimedia Commons (own work by the photographer)
- [Stardust hotel façade sign and round roadside sign, Las Vegas (picture postcard)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stardust_(early_1960s_postcard).png): Uncredited photographer and publisher (Stardust façade and roadside signs, 1958), early 1960s (before 1965, when the round roadside sign was replaced), Wikimedia Commons (scan of a postcard; the reverse is scanned separately)
- [Riviera Hotel marquee on the Las Vegas Strip](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:6212-LasVegasStrip-RivieraHotelMarquee.jpg): Unrecorded sign maker (Riviera opened 1955); photograph by Robert J. Boser, photographed December 1962, Wikimedia Commons (own work by the photographer)
- [McDonald's 'Speedee' roadside sign, Downey](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Historic_Downey_McDonalds_Hamburgers_Sign.jpg): McDonald's (sign designer unrecorded); photograph by Northwalker, 1950s sign at the restaurant opened on 18 August 1953; later '500 million' tally panel; restored; recent photograph, Wikimedia Commons (own work by the photographer)

## Sources

- Alan Hess, Googie Redux: Ultramodern Roadside Architecture (Chronicle Books, 2004)
- Douglas Haskell, ‘Googie Architecture’, House & Home (February 1952)
- Thomas Hine, Populuxe (1986)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Googie & Atomic Age”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/googie/