Week 5

American Kitsch in the 50's

American Kitsch (meaning decreative crap) was around in the 50's and was quite popular and influential.

James Dean was one of the most influential men in that period due to his unique style. The DC-3 plane was another important influence back then. Transports such as buses and cars began to take on the same design as the DC-3.

In the 50's, a lot of the cinemas played science-fiction movies and exterior building designs like Las Vegas contained these same use of curves seen in sci-fi genres(spaceships).

The 50's designs usually contained casual script but the object designs turned from Bauhaus, sharp and rigid to curvy. Telephones had organic curves. The kidney shape artist palate was also used as coffee tables and were seen everywhere in the 50's. Stacked chairs were designed for function but its sexy, sensual appearance shaped typical, popular furnitures in the 50's. The electric guitar was made in that organic shape to look sexy and sensual. Furniture's such as the duke box contained aerodynamic shapes and lines.

It was heading towards abstraction.

Theatre ad entertainment posters liked to exaggerate and often used cartoons. Parody was a characteristic at that time and Victorian banners were used sometimes in photos.

Pop art started around this time. Andy Warhol, one of the most well known Pop artist used a lot of cartoon characters. Detective novels used exaggerated expressions and poses. Cartoons were often used on logos, while disembodied heads were seen on posters and packaging. The poster for the movie, "Casablanca", contained this. This characteristic wouldn't be included in history books but it is quite important to graphic designers as this has been quite an influence over the many years for design. The political values of these cartoons were to exercise the freedom of speech.

Science became a new thing in advertisement. e.g.. band aids

Life was more easier to understand back then. It appeared more innocent and simpler.