The early 20th century saw a large number of very rapid changes in all areas of life, particularly those of industry, architecture, fashion, and design. A number of advancements in technology, as well as two World Wars contributed a great deal to these rapid changes, while the Wars themselves greatly pushed the technological and industrial advances. Art Deco is probably the most well known and abiding design style from that period, and its effects could be seen in all areas of life (and still can be seen in many old and new designs today). However, for the enormous weight of its impact on design, the true Art Deco period itself was rather short-lived, and much of the tail end of it shifted into another, similar design style, for which it is often confused: Streamline Moderne. A brief summary of historic events is helpful in more fully understanding the transition of design into and then beyond Art Deco, as well as the reasons Korea seems to have completely skipped over this revolutionary design period.
Designing an Art Deco poster for Korea was a very difficult task, given that Korea has virtually nothing of Art Deco design in its history, save a single image I found from the 1988 Seoul Olympics, at a time when Art Deco design was going through one of its many comebacks. But, using as many resources as I could find, and as much creativity as I could muster, I made it happen:

Now, let’s get into the historic background that led to the Art Deco design period in the Western world.
(more…)