Streamlining took off in the 1930 in America . It was launched officially
in the New York
world fair named ‘The World of Tomorrow’. It was a consequence of the The Great
Depression and also related to the Wall Street Crash in America 1929.
Competition was growing at a fast pace and manufacturers sought ideas of how to
make customers buy their products. In fact, what they did was re styling what
they already had instead of coming up with innovative ones. At that time America ,
wanted a style of its own which differs its products from European countries.
Early in the 20th century, there had been some design
changes on transportation to improve aerodynamics and hydro dynamics. What they
was making the design in teardrop shape, smoothing the edges and rounding the corers so air would flow easily
reducing air resistance and other opposing forces. It was very common in
trains, aircrafts and ships and this brought to the advantage of saving time
and fuel.
So the manufacturers grabbed this idea and applied it to all
of their products to make it look appealing and which prompts the customer to
buy it. The advantages of making such stylish products were both economically
and industrially. They were able to be mass produced since streaming consisted
of flatting the surfaces and removing any ornamentation from the design.
Another advantage was that since they could be mass produced and customers were
interested in buying such products, the price was affordable even for the
middle class. In fact, by buying a streamlined product, the middle class felt
like they were buying a high class product due to its attractive style which
captures the eye. Everyone wanted streamlined products and due to this, other
stuff such as vacuum cleaners and sharpeners and also fridges were being
designed in a streamlined manner. In fact, one would buy such a product even if
he doesn’t need it since it was worth it. Therefore at that time, people from
all over the world, were looking for products marked ‘Made in America’ and even
nowadays, we can still here this echoing, maybe not fully understanding why but
on TV programs it can still be hared. On the other hand, nowadays people seek
to buy goods from China
since they are affordable and good quality products.
Designers which were popular in their streamline design were
Henry Deryfuss, Raymond Loewy, Noman Bel Geddes and Dorwin Teague. We can take
an example of a streamlined motor cycle by Ben Bowden with his work ‘Bicycle of
the Future’ We can notice the curvy shapes and the designs which flows all over
it showing movement and speed.
To some up, Streamlining helped American manufacturers
regain strength and boosting the economy. Nowadays streamlining is still very popular
in our designs. Although its peek was between 1930 till 1950, it is still
essential for us to design objects which save fuel and are efficient so some
streamlining principles are to be incorporated for sure.
References:
Fiell, C. and Fiell, P. (1999). Design of the 20th century.
Ko¨ln: Taschen.
Industrial Design History, 2015. The Streamline Era: A
Personal View Budd Steinhilber. [ONLINE] Available
at: <http://www.industrialdesignhistory.com/node/1022.> [Accessed 27 January 2015].
No comments:
Post a Comment