Eyes and Ancient Egypt meets deco ...

Common themes in deco:

So what distinguishes this style from all of the rest? Basically it was a "modernization" of many artistic styles and themes from the past. You can easily detect in many examples of Art Deco the influence of Far and Middle Eastern design, Greek and Roman themes, and even Egyptian and Mayan influence. Modern elements included echoing machine and automobile patterns and shapes such as stylized gears and wheels, or natural elements such as sunbursts and flowers.

As i am a big fan of everything about ancient culture and art, especially ancient Egypt, I find myself really drawn to this meeting of styles.

The eyes of the god Horus are recognisable as prominent symbols of ancient Egypt, so perhaps echoing the stylisation of the eyes around this somewhat in my design would work well...? So ... My 3 main graphic design influences for my project so far are Art Deco, Spanish style and colour (and flamenco), and ancient Egyptian art. These three design elements are to be used now to create logo ideas, which I have decided to draw by hand and transfer electronically later.

Napier, NZ, an Art Deco town.

"a small New Zealand town that seems sometimes fictional"

Far from the world's great population centres and from the European and American cities where 20th Century design evolved lies a small city that is unique. Napier, New Zealand, was rebuilt in the early 1930s following a massive Richter 7.8 Earthquake. Subsequent fires destroyed most of its commercial heart. By the end of the decade, Napier was the newest city on the globe.

Nowhere else can you see such a variety of buildings in the styles of the 1930s - Stripped Classical, Spanish Mission, and above all Art Deco, the style of the 20th Century - in such a concentrated area. And Napier's Art Deco is unique, with Maori motifs and the buildings of Louis Hay, admirer of the great Frank Lloyd Wright.

Enhanced by palms and the angular Norfolk Island pines which are its trademark, and bounded by fertile fruit and grape growing plains, dramatic hills and the shores of the South Pacific, beautiful Napier is the centre of the Hawke's Bay region. In Napier, you can enjoy the legacy of its brave rebuilding and savour the spirit of the optimistic Art Deco era.

The Art Deco style was at the height of its popularity for buildings in 1931. Its clean simple lines and base relief decoration suited the needs of the new city...

Art Deco was fashionable. With its past destroyed, Napier looked ahead and chose a style associated with Manhattan, the movies and modernism.
Art Deco was safe. With its emphasis on low relief surface decoration, Art Deco forsook the elaborate applied ornament that had fallen from the buildings in the earthquake and caused so many deaths and injuries.
Art Deco was cheap. Its relief stucco ornament was an economical way to beautify buildings during the low-point of the Great Depression.

Other architectural styles for the period were also used - the Spanish Mission style from California, and both Stripped Classical and Classical Modern, the styles of Greece and Rome but simplified and modernized. And local architect Louis Hay's work strongly reflects Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style inthe United States mid-west, which developed in the early years of the century.

http://www.artdeconapier.com/default.aspx

Logo design ...

The main parts to my business logo will be the name 'SPANISH EYES', in my selected deco font, plus an image that evokes my desired aesthetic. I feel a set of stylised eyes that follow the deco style would be very effective, and convey the notion that this is a space to look, to observe, to watch, and also be seen.

I am going to take the eyes from this poster and start playing around with stylising them and adding a deco Spanish flavour incorporating style elements I have been researching ...

A fan will definitely be part of the design, and an immediately reconisable iconic flamenco style dress. The distictly Spanish colour scheme of scarlet red and yellow will definitely be combined with the strong black straight lines and curves of the art deco movement.