Design Styles Explained: 12 Movements and Where Their Names Come From

Design labels get used loosely, and most of the time it does not matter. It starts to matter when you search for references, brief someone or buy a typeface, because the label is what you type.

So here are twelve labels that often get mixed up, with the dates and the one or two tell-tale signs that help tell them apart, and where each name comes from.

01The verdicts

All ✕Doesn't hold up◐Partly✓Holds up

01 "Victorian" is a design style ✕Doesn't hold up It is a period, not a style: the reign of Queen Victoria, 1837 to 1901.

02 Flowing, plant-like curves and whiplash lines mean Art Nouveau ✓Holds up Yes. Tate describes Art Nouveau as a style that emerged in the 1890s, with sinuous lines and flowing shapes based on plants; it flourished in the first decades of the 20th century and was killed off by the First World War.

03 Geometric, streamlined, sunburst glamour means Art Deco ✓Holds up Yes, as a rule. Tate calls Art Deco a design style of the 1920s and 1930s with a geometric character, which it puts down to the influence of Cubism, though plant forms and curves remained in some Art Deco design.

04 It was called "Art Deco" at the time ✕Doesn't hold up The name came decades later.

05 Bauhaus is a design style ◐Partly It was a school first.

06 Brutalism is called that because it looks brutal ◐Partly The name has more than one origin story.

07 "Mid-century modern" is what the style was called in the 1950s ◐Partly The phrase existed, but it was rare.

08 Memphis design comes from Memphis, Tennessee ◐Partly The group was from Milan; the name nods to Tennessee and to Egypt.

09 Swiss Style just means using Helvetica ◐Partly Helvetica is a product of it, not the whole of it.

10 Skeuomorphism was invented by Apple ✕Doesn't hold up The word is from 1889–90.

11 Glassmorphism is a brand-new style ◐Partly The name is new; the look is not.

12 Minimalism started with Apple or Scandinavian furniture ✕Doesn't hold up It began as an art movement in the United States.

6 of 12 shown · a mix of every verdict Show all 12 ▾

02The one mix-up worth fixing first

Victorian is a period, not a style. It covers everything made during Queen Victoria’s reign, from 1837 to 1901, which takes in several very different looks. When a poster with swirling flowers, flowing hair and whiplash curves is labelled “Victorian”, it is usually Art Nouveau: a style of its own, which emerged in the 1890s and so overlaps only with the last years of Victoria’s reign.

03A two-second test for the famous pair

Art Nouveau and Art Deco are easy to confuse: the names sound alike and one came after the other. Tate calls Art Deco both a successor to Art Nouveau and a reaction against it. A quick test:

• Does it curve like a plant? Art Nouveau, which emerged in the 1890s and lasted until the First World War.
• Is it geometric and angular? Art Deco, from the 1920s and 1930s.

Neither test is perfect. Tate notes that plant forms and sinuous curves remained in some Art Deco design.

Art Nouveau	Sinuous lines and flowing shapes based on plants. From the 1890s to the First World War.
Art Deco	A geometric character, which Tate puts down to Cubism. The 1920s and 1930s.

Tate calls Art Deco both a successor to Art Nouveau and a reaction against it.

04Names that came later

Several of these labels were given, or caught on, after the fact, often through writers and critics looking back:

• Art Deco appeared as a name in 1966 and spread with Bevis Hillier’s 1968 book.
• Mid-century modern is first recorded in 1953, but it caught on after Cara Greenberg’s 1984 book.
• Brutalism: a Swedish architect said he coined “new brutalism” in 1950; Alison Smithson used it in 1953; the critic Reyner Banham made it famous in 1955.
• Glassmorphism became a popular label in 2020, for a glass look Windows Vista had in 2007.

In our reading, that is normal: the people making the work are rarely the ones who name the movement.

Art DecoOften called style moderne in its day; the short name appeared in 1966.

Mid-century modernFirst recorded in 1953; caught on after Cara Greenberg’s 1984 book.

BrutalismClaimed by a Swedish architect for 1950; used in England in 1953; made famous by the critic Reyner Banham in 1955.

GlassmorphismPopular from 2020, for a look Windows Vista had in 2007.

In our reading, the people making the work are rarely the ones who name the movement.

05Why the label matters if you design

When you brief someone, search for references or buy a font, the label is the search term. “Victorian poster” and “Art Nouveau poster” bring back very different piles of images, and only one of them is likely to be what you had in mind. Three checks that help:

• The date first. A date rules a label in or out faster than a description does: a design from the 1920s cannot be Art Nouveau at its height, and one from before 1837 cannot be Victorian.
• Periods versus styles. “Victorian” names a reign; the style is the thing inside it, such as the Gothic Revival or Arts and Crafts.
• Where the name comes from. Names that sound like a place or a feeling, such as Memphis or Brutalism, often mean something else.

How we checked this · Last checked September 2026

• Each label was checked against the museum, reference and archive pages and the original texts listed below.

Checked September 2026.

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06Sources