ASSIGNMENT 1b
Title: Introduction: Revisiting the Avant Garde 
Author: Helen Armstrong
Year: 2009
Source: Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field. Princeton Architectural Press, 2009, pp. 9-15.
Context: This essay was written as the introduction to the Graphic Design Theory reader that Helen Armstrong compiled and edited. This introduction briefly mentions many of the designers, movements and texts that are included in the collection (and which we read in class) while also describing the author’s own interest in the theoretical aspects of the design process
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– Revisiting the Avant Garde: Armstrong believes that the ambitions of avant garde artists from the early 20th century should be questioned but should inspire designers of today 
–  Collective Authorship is an constantly evolving aspect of design, in which the producer-consumer relationship plays a key role
– Universal Systems of Connection have been envisioned a means of uniting people through design, but remain restrictive in many ways
– Social Responsibility must be a part of the design process, as designers play a key role in shaping society
– We should ask what role the avant-garde of the new millennium will play

ASSIGNMENT 1b
Title: Design as Art; What is a Designer?; A Living Language 
Author: Bruno Munari
Year: 1966
Source: Design as Art. translated by Patrick Creagh, Penguin Classics, 2008. pp. 25-33, 37-40.
Context: These three essays are selected from a collection of Bruno Munari’s writings, originally published as a regular column for the Italian Newspaper Il Giorno.  Munari had a very long career as an industrial designer, fine artist, member of the Futurist group, and author. 
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– The fields of Fine Art, Design and Engineering are often confused
– Designers rarely consider the distinctions between these fields
– Usefulness or function are key features of design
– Different fields of design: Visual, Industrial, Graphic, Research
– “A Living Language” of images, forms, colors, symbols, etc. are employed in design

ASSIGNMENT 2
Title: Excerpts from Course in General Linguistics
Author: Ferdinand de Saussure
Year: 1916
Source: Course in General Linguistics. Edited by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, Translated by Wade Baskin, McGraw Hill Paperbacks, 1966. pp. 65-78.
Context: Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics is assembled from the lectures that he gave on the subject between 1911 and 1915. He was a highly influential thinker and professor in the field, but never compiled his own textbook on the subject. After his death, his former students compiled their notes to create the book as we now know it.
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– Chapter I of Part 1: General Principles addresses the Nature of the Linguistic Sign
– A sign is composed of a signifier and a signified. The signifier is the sound-image that we speak or hear to refer to the sign. The signified is the concept that our mind conjures in relation to the sign. The sign is the whole of these parts.
– Principle I states that the sign is arbitrary, meaning that we do not actively choose the components of language. The sign emerges from collective behavior, with no motivations or natural connections.
– Principle II states that Signifiers are linear, meaning that meaning develops over time as we speak to one another
– Chapter II address the Immutability and Mutability of the Sign
– Signs are immutable, or unchanging, because of (1) the arbitrary nature of the sign, (2) the multiplicity of signs that make up a given language, (3) the over-complexity of language systems and (4) collective inertia toward innovation.
– Signs are Mutable because time allows for shifts in the relationship between the signified and the signifier, language is powerless to defend itself against change, no one controls a language, a community of speakers make the social nature of a language one of its inner characteristics.

ASSIGNMENT 2
Title: Counting Sheep, Modern Hieroglyphs, Language of Dreams
Author: Ellen Lupton, J. Abbott Miller
Year: 1996
Source: Design Writing Research: Writing on Graphic Design. Kiosk Books, 1996. pp. 24-32, 41-45.
Context: Design Writing Research compiles essays that Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller wrote for various exhibition catalogs and publications in preceding years. Each essay in the collection explores designers or design projects that place strong emphasis on research and theory. 
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– Counting Sheep: A Brief History of Written Numbers examines the ways that numerical notation have existed outside of alphabetic or linguistic writing systems, instead using tally marks, tokens, digits (ie. fingers and toes) and devices such as the abacus.
– Modern Hieroglyphs examines the lasting impact of Otto Neurath’s Isotype system, which served as the basis for standard symbol sets such AIGA’s. Neurath’s system, like many other typographic ideas of the 1920s, strives for universal communication and objectivity.
– Language of Dreams examines the fundamental graphic systems that are used for written languages. The basis for these systems are the pictograph, ideograph, rebus, syllabary, and alphabet.

ASSIGNMENT 3
Title: The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism
Author: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Year: 1909
Source: Marinetti: Selected Writings. Edited by R.W. Flint, translated by Arthur A. Coppotelli. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1972.
Context: Marinetti, along with a group of young Italian artists, composed this manifesto to declare their ambitions, in opposition to the traditional values dominating Italian art and culture of the time. Many aspiring artists at the time published manifestos for their movements. The Futurist Manifesto, published in Italian and French newspapers in 1909, stands out due to its fiery tone.
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– The introductory paragraphs contain allusions to traditional, mythological imagery with references to the latest machine technologies.
– The narrative of this introductory portion portrays the Futurists as both heroic and machismo
– Machinery is portrayed as both dangerous and thrilling
– The 11 point manifesto lists the values and ideals that the group will celebrate, including courage, aggression, speed and violence
– The closing paragraphs emphasize the Modernist idea of rejecting past art movements in favor of progress

ASSIGNMENT 3
Title: Who We Are: Manifesto of the Constructivist Group
Author: Aleksandr Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, Aleksei Gan
Year: c. 1922
Source: Aleksandr Rodchenko: Experiments for the Future. Edited by Alexander N. Lavrentiev. Museum of Modern Art, 2005. pp. 143-145. Reprinted in Graphic Design Theory, pp. 22-24
Context: The Russian Revolution of 1917 offered hope for a new society in which workers would replace the aristocracy as the ruling class. The Constructivists, led by Aleksandr Rodchenko envisioned a new form of art that would replace traditional painting and sculpture with new forms of mass produced graphics and engineered objects. Who We Are is one of many manifestos to emerge from this group  
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– This fragmentary text enumerates the areas of life in which Constructivists will be involved
– The authors reject being labeled as ‘artists’ in favor of the designation ‘constructor’
– Technology is seen as both a tool and the ‘mortal enemy of art’
– Geometrical forms are a necessary component for expressive art and everyday objects

ASSIGNMENT 3
Title: Our Book
Author: El Lissitzky
Year: 1926
Source: El Lissitzky: Life, Letters, Texts. Edited by Sophie Lissitzky-Kuppers. Translated by Helen Aldwinckle and Mary Whittle. Thames and Hudson, 1968. Reproduced in Graphic Design Theory, pp. 25-31
Context: In his travels throughout Europe, the Russian artist El Lissitzky played a critical role in connecting European avant garde movements of the early 20th century. His Essay Our Book considers some of the new technologies and visual strategies that artists could use to communicate their ideas both to international colleagues and to mass audiences at home.
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– Technical innovations in the arts immediately produce the highest achievements possible
– New technologies led to the dematerialization of art
– The book form is altered by technological inventions and by innovations in communication systems
– Collaboration between painters and poets to create new book forms offers many possibilities for educating the masses
– While the cinema and illustrated magazine add to social development, book artists must keep pace by developing new forms that will sharpen the optic nerve

ASSIGNMENT 4
Title: The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus
Author: Walter Gropius
Source: Bauhaus 1919-1928. Edited by Herbert Bayer, Walter Gropius and Ilse Gropius. Museum of Modern Art, 1938. Reproduced in Art in Theory 1900-2000. Edited by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood. Blackwell Publishing, 2003. pp. 309-314
Year: 1923
Context: The architect Walter Gropius, founder and first Director of the Bauhaus composed this text to articulate the ideals of the now-famous institution. In it Gropius criticizes traditional art academies while outlining a positive vision for an education that combines architectural concepts with aesthetic questions and everyday problem-solving. 
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– Individuals must orient their attitude to the spirit of the times to create solutions for bettering society
– The traditional art ‘academy’ fails by isolating artists, detaching skill from reality and ignoring traditional folk arts.
– Creative work should ‘give form to space’ meaning artists should be able to express inner visions through their materials
– The goal of the Bauhaus is to unify training in fields of art and design
– Preliminary training should ‘break down conventional patterns of thought.’ As students progress they should take on more advanced form problems and incorporate theory, eventually understanding ‘all processes of creation.’

ASSIGNMENT 4
Title: Typophoto
Author: László Moholy-Nagy
Year: 1925
Source: Painting Photography Film. Translated by Janet Seligman. MIT Press, 1973. pp. 38-40. Reproduced in Graphic Design Theory, pp. 32-34
Context: This text initially appeared as a short chapter in Painting Photography Film, a publication that Moholy-Nagy wrote and designed for the Bauhaus press. Throughout this book, the artist and Bauhaus instructor articulated his vision for a new form of art that would incorporate a range of media.
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– Artists must participate in society’s ‘collectivity of interacting events.’
– Printers, Photographers, and all artists must consider ways that art can connect people
– ‘Typophoto’ is a new form of making, combining typography and photography for ‘the most exact rendering of communication.’
– The combination of these printing technologies will create new possibilities for visual expression, thereby creating a ‘new visual literature.’  

ASSIGNMENT 4
Title: On Typography
Author: Herbert Bayer
Year: 1967
Source: herbert bayer: painter, designer, architect. Rheinhold, 1967. pp. 75-77. Reproduced in Graphic Design Theory, pp. 44-49
Context: Bayer was first a student then an instructor at the Bauhaus before emigrating to the U.S. where he would continue his career as a graphic designer, typographer, architect, and artist. Though composed later in his career, this text is a reflection on the ambitions and ideals that Bayer held for a new form of typographic expression; one that would simplify language and create new possibilities for improved communication.
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– Typography is a ‘service art’ that provides the means for expressing ideas through mechanical techniques
– Traditional book forms and writing techniques lack principle and structure, thereby limiting the expressive power of type.
– A typographic revolution will come from (a) increased demand on perception, (b) a new alphabet and (c) physical forms for typography
– Universal Communication might come about from improved typographic form and ‘true text-picture integration.’
– Layout and printing techniques such as the square span, or colored type and pages that create a change of impact, improve perception

ASSIGNMENT 5
Title: The Crystal Goblet, or Why Printing Should be Invisible
Author: Beatrice Warde
Year: 1930
Source: The Crystal Goblet: Sixteen Essays on Typography. World Publishing, 1956. pp. 11-17. Reproduced in Graphic Design Theory. pp. 39-43
Context: Warde composed this text, and delivered it, as a lecture to the British Typographers Guild where she appeared as a representative for the Monotype Corporation. In addition to outlining a notion of typography as a tool to be used in service of ideas, this text advocates the “new traditionalist” mentality, shared by Stanley Morison and Eric Gill, also working for Monotype.
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– The Crystal Goblet analogy compares typography to a wine glass, in that both are vessels to contain something without obstruction or distraction
– The ‘modernist’ asks ‘What must it do?’ instead of ‘How should it look?’
– Typesetters forget that ‘printing is meant to convey specific and coherent ideas’
– Readability can be compared to a good speaking voice
– Printing should serve economic or educational purpose rather than ‘expressing beauty for its own sake’
– Printing demands humility and discipline, while avoiding ostentation and stunts 

ASSIGNMENT 5
Title: Language of Vision: Painting, Photography, Advertising-Design (Excerpt)
Author: György Kepes
Year: 1944
Source: Language of Vision: Painting, Photography, Advertising-Design. Dover edition, Dover Publications, 1995
Context: Kepes was an influential designer and educator who combined practical Bauhaus ideas with a formal approach inspired by Gestalt Psychology. Though never directly associated with the Bauhaus, Kepes worked for Moholy-Nagy’s design firms in Berlin and London, then taught alongside him at Chicago’ Institute of Design, where Language of Vision was composed. 
Key Themes and Takeaways:
– Abstraction emerged in Cubism and subsequent movements as a means for depicting reality from a dynamic point of view, rather than a fixed perspective
– ‘Values’ in art should supersede static isolated order
– All representations contain associative qualities, which the mind organizes and resolves to form meaningful configurations and signs
– Social contradictions and problems led to the disintegration of meaning in images. The role of the artist is to reintegrate meaning.
– Photomontage is a meaningful way for artists to make sense of, and function within, the ‘complexity of machine culture’
– The great challenge for advertising is to ‘disseminate socially useful messages’