the 'all deco'ed out' Project

essential question: 

Why did the poster become so important in the Art Deco era? 
For this project we are going to travel back in time to the 1920's and 1930's  when one of the most easily identifiable art movements ever was created: ART DECO. Art Deco covers all artistic media from painting to photography, fashion to film and architecture to jewellery. Spanning the boom of the roaring Twenties and the Depression–ridden 1930s, Art Deco came to represent all the glamour and opulence of the Jazz age. It was the era of the flapper girl, the luxury ocean liner, the Hollywood film and the skyscraper.

what is art deco?

According to the NGV (http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/art-deco-1910-1939/) "Art Deco burst onto the world stage at the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale, and quickly swept across the globe. Its influence was everywhere: it transformed the skylines of the cities of New York to Shanghai and shaped the design of everything from fashionable evening wear to plastic radios. Its influence was felt across all areas of art and design, including decorative arts, architecture, fashion, art, graphics and film. The new aesthetics were also found in industrial design, furniture, transport, communications and in household items. Above all, it became the style of the pleasure palaces of the age – hotels, cocktails bars, nightclubs and cinemas."

examples of 
art deco posters

Art Deco posters are hugely popular today in interior design (just look at The Block on channel 9). Art Deco posters were about advertising to the young and wealthy because lifestyles were changing from buying things because people needed it to buying things because people wanted it. The economy was booming and the optimistic outlook of the 1920's after the war and throughout the 1930's created a ideal market for advertisers and they needed designers and artists.

elements of art deco

geometric shape

  • Are circles, rectangles, squares, triangles etc. They have clear edges usually achieved when using tools to create them. 
  • Most geometric shapes are made by humans

symmetry
Symmetry is what occurs when one side of something balances out or mirrors the other.

pattern

simplification of detail

Picture

colour

art
 deco 
typeface

what makes a good poster

Posters must attract the audience. There are other posters in "competition" with yours, and you want people to gravitate toward your display.

USE AS A GUIDE
·      Use bold colours and limited colours
·      Use simple and LARGE FONTS
·      Use small blocks for the text -- a wall of text is not attractive
·      Use only one type of font 
(mixed fonts may have an unprofessional look).
·      Avoid using too many style changes 
(i.e., shadow, bold, italics, underscoring, etc.).
·      Make sure text is spelt correctly

theory task - art deco comprehension task - click button for sheet

step by step instructions of making poster

step one: Design composition

step two: Colour concepts

step three: transfer composition to watercolour paper

step four: fill in Colour (pencil and brush)

step five: outline

2015 student work