streamlining

Shaping a body so that it offers the least resistance when travelling through a medium such as air or water. Aircraft, for example, must be carefully streamlined to reduce air resistance, or drag.

In order to reduce the air resistance of an object such as a car, its shape is designed in such a way that it will reduce drag and allow air to flow smoothly over the car. High-speed aircraft must have swept-back wings, supersonic aircraft a sharp nose and narrow body.

streamlining

Popular design style of the 1930s which originated in cars, ships, and aeroplanes and went on to influence domestic appliances such as refrigerators and irons. The bulbous forms linked with streamlining that were first used to cut down wind resistance were quickly turned into a visual symbol of modernity by the American industrial designers of the interwar years.

From Bel Geddes's idealized cars of the early 1930s to Raymond Loewy's Gestetner duplicating machine of 1932, streamlining represented modern living and became the commercial style of the decade.