Art Deco

Art Deco -

Art deco is a design movement that originated in central france in the 1920’s and 1930’s. It’s scope and influence hit many design mediums such as graphic design, architecture and industrial design, to name just a few.  It represented functionality, elegance it’s distinctive linear symmetry could be likened to forms from the ancient Egyptians and Aztecs - So Wikipedia says.

Unlike many popular design movements Art Deco wasn’t based upon political and social intentions was purely created to create a sense of modernity and freshness that would appeal to a mass market of consumers. This is what made it so popular and successful, however it was also the undoing of the movement. It had a great emphasis on luxury and elegance, however as it travelled westerly and started to get produced on mass for the mass consumer it’s individuality and luxurious feel was tarnished as - quite simply - poorer people in society  could afford Art Deco style products. Thus losing it’s sheik appeal for many of the more affluent people that bought into the movement.  

Art Deco is still popular in the current generation of design, this could be down to the fact it’s a very flexible style and you could put many - products, buildings, designs - in the art deco category! However the most popular pieces of Art Deco design can be seen below -

The Empire State building; Arguably the most recognizable Art Deco building ever built.  

We can learn a lot from the Art Deco movement, not only from their design principles, but also from the lessons they learnt with mass marketing products. Sometimes the appeal of something is down to it's niche and it's lack of popularity. Often you'll hear people say "Oh I liked that song before it got popular"

This is why the iPhone is VERY cleverly designed. You could retrospectively say that it's taken an Art Deco route in the respect that it's a luxury product that's been mass produced. However, the iPhone has maintained it's elegance and luxury appeal when most Art Deco designs didn't.

This could be a combination of it's functionality and form, since it's a highly productive product that people rely on day to day. It could be attributed to the fact that it's a product with many different layers that span further than it's physical design and hardware. The reason of it's success or Art Deco's isn't clear yet, however it will be. It could be that the iPhone hasn't been out long enough for people to grow bored of it. Art Deco's decline didn't happen overnight, this could be the case of the All Mighty iPhone.

Only Time will tell.