In the Gropius text, he mentions that āno longer can anything exist in isolationā. This very much speaks to contemporary times, with the ubiquitous presence of the internet and social media. Itās crazy to think how in Gropiusā time you couldnāt just open your phone and run a search on a topic you want to learn about. You had to go to a library and spend hours searching for books on the subject instead. Itās also crazy to think how anything we post to social media can be looked at by anyone in the world with a smartphone. Nothing exists in isolation anymore, certainly.
The Bauhaus was absolutely forward thinking in its approach. It prioritized connection to industry, which is precisely where art and design was headed at that moment. Also, I think the curriculum of the Bauhaus was so clever. The idea of a preliminary course is not only the logical starting point for creative education, but a brilliant way to make the starting point egalitarian.
Bayer seems to be very critical of our alphabet and writing system in general in his On Typography text, but I think our writing system is simple and effective. I would not change anything about it. Bayer writes about how advances in typography will not come from design variations of long-established forms such as the book, and I think heās absolutely right.
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