Stylogenyin the style of Streamline Moderne

Pictorial & machine age · 1930–1945 · North America

Streamline Moderne

Also known as Streamline, Streamlining, American Art Deco

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.

Make something in this styleGet advice in this styleMix it with another style

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.
AI-generated by Stylogeny from the style’s design choices. Not a real or historical work.

01

How it works

  • Express speed with parallel horizontal speed lines trailing behind forms and lettering.
  • Round every corner: teardrops, bullets and wraparound curves replace Deco's stepped angles.
  • Airbrush smooth gradients and metallic highlights so surfaces look polished and aerodynamic.
  • Run compositions on low, sweeping horizontals or dramatic perspective toward the horizon.
  • Present machines and transport (locomotives, airliners, ocean liners) as heroic, monumental icons.
  • Set display type in condensed or extended sans capitals, often striped with inline speed bars.

United States (New York, Detroit, Los Angeles), showcased at the 1933 Chicago and 1939 New York World's Fairs

02

Its design choices

From Stylogeny’s vocabulary of design choices: defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

Layout & composition
Space & hierarchy
Typography
Colour
Form & shape
Surface & texture
Ornament
Imagery
Medium & production
Tone & intent
Avoids
Angular & zigzag, Floral & vegetal, Abundant decoration, Carved line, Collage & layering, Rebellious & subversive

Palette

  • #1f3a5f
  • #c0c6cc
  • #e8dcc2
  • #d9822b
  • #2b2b2b
  • #7fa7b8

Typefaces

  • Huxley Vertical

    Walter Huxley, ATF, 1935

  • Agency Gothic

    Morris Fuller Benton, ATF, 1932

  • Futura

  • Airbrushed custom lettering with speed stripes

Known for

  • Raymond Loewy

    Pennsylvania Railroad locomotives

  • Henry Dreyfuss

    20th Century Limited, 1938

  • Norman Bel Geddes

    Horizons, 1932; General Motors Futurama, 1939

  • Leslie Ragan

    New York Central System posters

  • Joseph Binder

    official New York World's Fair poster, 1939

  • Walter Dorwin Teague

03

Make something in this style

Say what you need, and Stylogeny’s image studio draws it from Streamline Moderne’s design choices and checks it against them. It takes about a minute, and you get a link to share.

Rule out a choice, read the prompt, or blend in another style: take this brief to Mix styles.

04

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

Before it

The style it grew out of, and the styles it borrowed from.

This styleStreamline Moderne1930–1945 · North America

After it

The styles that grew out of it.

Alike in its design choices

Styles that make many of the same choices, related or not, besides those above.

05

Real works

Artefacts in museums, libraries and archives that show the style, linked at their source.

06

Sources

  1. Jeffrey L. Meikle, Twentieth Century Limited: Industrial Design in America, 1925–1939 (1979)
  2. Steven Heller & Louise Fili, Streamline: American Art Deco Graphic Design (Chronicle Books, 1995)

How Stylogeny researches and checks a style: where the facts come from.