Contemporary

1975 - present

Some designs are just so well thought of and accepted, they never leave the eyes and homes of the public. Such as the Contemporary Look. This is the era of simplicity, classic taste, function before form, clean and asymmetrical layouts. Simple and straightforward designs and functions have never really gone out of style, such as the all-type approach where only words make the advertisement or piece of art. Even like the one below, by Paul Rand advertisement poster of IBM. He used pictures to sound out the letters. During 1975 and the present most artists and designers look back into history and find influences and inspirations in other design styles. Look at the few images below. Inspiration and influence by Art Deco, Swiss and Art Nouveau. Because over time, people have developed their own style, and what is in the media and presented to us needs variety, all the time. Even American Kitsch was used for advertising mints.

The simplicity of Contemporary art carries on today in advertising, layout and art and design.

Paul Rand was the influential designer of the time, helping to design trademarks such as IBM, Apple computers and more.

Humour was very popular in advertising, using the contemporary style. The following few images have humour incorporated with some of their simple advertisements.

e.g. bulldozing ☺

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What I like in the contemporary style architecture and homes. I think if I lived in this room to long I'd become depressed, so I'd be changing the simple layout and colours every 6months or something, but I am a fan of the clear, uncluttered, simple style of the contemporary look.

Art Deco

Between the end of the WW1 and beginning of WW2, Art Deco was the new design style to influence the world. Art Deco uses geometric shapes, Eqyptian zigzags, lightning bolts, shapes and curves, motion lines and streamlined forms creating a futuristic theme. It is still influenced by Art Nouveau by it's shape and they share the representation of luxury, glamour and culture.

Lines and curves were very important in this age, they were used everywhere. Miami is famous for its Art Deco buildings, and this is where you can see the American Kitsch designs begin to overlap, as the Art Deco period ends, and American Kitsch begins.

Cassandre was the famous advertisement designer of the Art Deco age. His posters largely used geometric shape, and connected typography and picture together, perfectly. He also used overlapping and experimented with different angles, designs and influences. He did alot train and shipping advertisements using his geometric shape.

His last advertisement was rejected, and found on his desk after taking his own life. It used a combination of imagery, design, shadow, and his original Art Deco bold colours and shape influences.

Here are some more retro Art Deco pictures ☺