The Bauhaus Building, USA Today
Bauhaus’s Interdisciplinary Curriculum in German and English
After today’s class, write at least 250 words summarizing your reading of Kostelnick’s essay and our discussion in class. Post your summary as a comment made to this blog post.
Some reminders:
James Mitchell’s last LinkedIn.com workshop is this Thursday, 1pm – 2pm in the Vorhees Building, V-219. Due to the popularity of the workshop, it is recommended that you bring a laptop if you have one available so that there are more desktop computers to go around.
Kostelnick’s “Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” In his reading it talks about technology can be transferred into helping people understanding more of the lesson because they are more of a visual learner. When professor and teacher use technology in their teaching skills its usually to help students understand their lesson by not just using language but also by pictures, videos, and other etc. In the reading, it said, “The roots of modern typography are entwined with those of twentieth-century painting, poetry, and architecture.” This is telling us that writing has changed a lot of people perspective because it becomes art and that it helps people with their language and how they want to write about that piece of art that they have just seen. This also helps architecture with how they want their buildings and these technologies really helps them see if their sketch will work or not. If they weren’t able to use this software to help them with their sketches will either stand up or collapse. He also talks about other things that this can help with different people that are in design. The typographical design help people who are in painting, drawing, architectural, because these become useful to them even though they aren’t using many languages but something that people don’t understand is that they are still using language but it is expressed in a different way for people see and understand in their artwork or building . Everything that they built or make all have a language but depending on can you understand what they are trying to say through their piece.
The Bauhaus, which in German means “building house’, was a school of thought that originated in Germany in 1919. It is a design process that unites the ideas of theory and praxis, or in other words, theory and practice. While some believe it is advantageous to base your education or knowledge around just one of these ideals, the Bauhaus believes one is better knowing about both, and supplement each other. Charles Kostelnick, in his piece, talks about his own school of thought based off of the Bauhaus. It is a more modern version, where we have an understanding of different cultures and different upbringings. The Bauhaus has 4 key points, where the medium must help understand the message, simplifying design, searching for a style from which everyone can understand and faith in your own intuition. Well, the last two points are not only counter intuitive, they are partially debunked by ones upbringing. Trusting in ones intuition goes against a universal objective style, as ones intuition will be different than others. Kostenick has his own 4 points to make. He says we should use both visual and verbal language to achieve purpose, blocks of text should be as important as a single line of text when economizing aesthetic, using visual language that couples with your audience, and using basic problem solving while developing a document. His view on the Bauhaus link not only theory and praxis, but also the audience who will consume the information being taught.
In Kostelnicks, “Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” the attention of theory and praxis was his focus. The “knowing” of how to do things, thinking abstractly are things that involve practice. There is a belief that one should balance theory and practice. He introduces a concept called “Bauhouse”, which is a reference to a German school for design that united theory and practice. The transformation of technology from designers to professional communicators. He realizes that you will be required to wear multiple hats of technical computers. The reason being is because that this job society expects us, humans, to have the knowledge of various computers and perhaps more knowledge on how to use these products to complete the job at hand. We are expected to do more things with these tools. This may be a burden for some because it is up to you independently to acquire extra skills to become more of an asset to an employer. The only thing that we can gain is possibly more skills, however, a large part of this idea must deal with design. We are responsible for how to use this software because ultimately the layout and design are responsible for actual context of what we are doing.
There were four points Kostelnick mentioned four factors that are necessary for the modernist design. One of those points include unity of text and form which focuses on the way the tone of a message is perceived. Many times, we are finding visual language in textual content. This type of literacy has allowed us what is written in front of us. The second point focused on the emphasis on economy and simplicity; doing away with ornamentation. Thirdly, the search for a universal objective style which implies the basic understanding of every human being through iconography and this is references as being culturally specific. Finally, the last point was the faith and intuition, both in terms of the innate perception of the individual and the collective intuition of a culture. This connection would relate to the integration of how language is interpreted in all kinds of literary forms. But we have learned to convey these messages where we can determine if something is either right or wrong.
Kostelnick’s “Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” is an essay that I totally agree to; due to the fact that we understand better by our visual perception than using and other way. We have used different technologies for academic purposes for the sake of helping our students to understand the lesson easier and faster using videos or even pictures. This essay by Kostelnick defends the reality of objective because it connects to how we learn faster using our visual sense. It includes four key ideas as indicated (Kostelnick, page 10). The first key idea is “the unity of text and form” which gives a connection between what an object really is and the reason behind it. And there comes the rest of ideas— “
The emphasis on economy and simplicity
The search for a universal,objective style,
The faith intuition,both in terms of the innate perception
The individual and the collective intuition of a culture”
All of these ideas gave us a brief separation of how we understand things based on our vision because it splits up the definition of what a thing is and rather than that it gives each one of us an ability to perceive the same thing differently. This essay helped me personally to understand that language could be expressed in many different ways by using visual and verbal language—which will eventually help us gain more skills that will allow us to have a non-identical perception; since communicators create documents for specific audiences. Then they are most likely to have different perspectives of these documents.
In Kolestnicks “ Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” reading he talks about how technology can help professional communicators today. It can help these communicators learn more about the principles of Typographical Design and its origin. Helps understand the transfer of technology homes sigmas to professional communicators. Kolestnicks talks about four different topics which are: unity of text and form, economy and simplicity, search for a humanal objective style and faith and intuitions. We learn some interesting facts from him as well , he say “integrate visual and verbal language to achieve the purpose of the document”. Another one is considered strict economy to be as such an esistave and rhetorical to a function. Third one is use visual language that the audience is accustomed to but adapt this language to the content of the doormat. Lastly combine intuitive and rational problem sowing during the writing and design process. He also talks about theory and praxis (practice). Praxis is from ancient greece but it is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realized. It may also refer to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing, or practicing ideas.
In Kostelnick’s “Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” he give a little background of modernist design by talking about giving main points about what modern design is and some important history about the Bauhaus, which was a school that combined crafts and art, that gave inspiration to many of the professional communicators today. Bauhaus (building house in German) was an art school that combined both crafts and arts where their goal was to be able to evolve from traditional styles and to also combine “art and functional application” (8). As Kostelnick explains there are 4 key ideas that he talks about modern design. It includes “the unity of text and form, the emphasis on economy and simplicity, the search for a universal objective style and the faith in intuition, both in terms of the innate perception of the individual and the collective intuition of a culture.” (10). In the first key idea he talks about the combination of text and form where when given a visual image a caption it gives it meaning and vise versa explaining that when both of these combined together giving it a better understand and meaning of the text, therefore, creating a visual language. In the second key idea, the emphasis on economy and simplicity Kostelnick show an example of Bayer’s outline for the curriculum for the Dessau Bauhaus, where Kostelnick describes the layout and how he design utilized the paper horizontally and vertically to give people the simple way of understanding the curriculum in the Bauhaus. In the outline it gave simplicity to where readers were able to locate the information they were interested about and also Bayer efficiently used the paper to give this simplicity, therefore showing the key idea of “emphasis on economy and simplicity”. In the third key idea, the search for a universal objective style he explains in how that there is an international style of how visual language is shown. And lastly, the fourth idea, faith in intuition where it talks about how everyone has an instinct of morals and ethics and if they were to take a step back and think about the work they were doing, would it be ethical to them.
In Kostelnicks essay he describe the school of Bauhaus and its inception of duo activity or duo application for a professional communicator. The professional communicator is a writer. The writer throughout the time of writing has been active at writing their thoughts on a medium and passing along the medium to the next skill of design. Design is an aesthetic quality of what writers are writing about. Design isn’t so much whats being said but how its being said.
In modernism which is what the school of Bauhaus was advocating is that writers or professional communicators ought to be partially responsible for the aesthetics of the content. Some aesthetic qualities are font type, spacing etc. As technology evolves the writer will be capable to apply the designer perspective to their content hence design becoming part of a writers job duties. The school of Bauhaus was ahead of its time because today a writer is expected to have some designing skills when completing work for a publisher.
Although the two clashing of writer and design benefit the publisher, in my opinion as competition grows in publishing industry , consumers will be expecting a higher sophistication of design. This sophistication of design from a writer in more then likely not to be available although the writer whom does have his capabilities will be able to market themselves better. Which is probably the point being made in the essay. The more you are capable of as a writer , the more you will be appreciated by your employer.
Kostelnick’s “Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication”explains the importance of theory and practice. He explains how knowing how to do things (how to present information/practice to use words to make memo and learn certain things) is very important than to just simply relying on technology to do it for us or not knowing how to do it. Kostelnick believes you should balance theory and practice. He introduces the Bauhaus house, which is a German school that united theory and practice (Transfer of technology from to professional communications (also technical writers). The Bauhaus show simplicity in the best way possible because this type of design maximizes design and make it as simple as possible. The four key ideas of the Bauhaus which was the unity of text and form. How the visual language of a text is the text. The emphasis on economy(doing away with ornamentation) and simplicity. Importance of searching for a universal objective style. Faith and intuition, where you innate perception of an individual and the collective intuition of a culture. Integrate visual and verbal which uses language to achieve the purpose of the document: maximize interaction between word and image (use together). Consider strict economy to be as much aesthetic as rhetorical and a functional criteria. Using Bauhaus to show how to strip away orientation and maximize design and make it simple as possible. Use visual language the audience is accustom to and adapt language to the context of environment. Lastly, to combine intuitive and rational problem solving during the writing and design process. I agree one should know to do things on their own, accurately, and whatever we do, we should do it in the most effective way possible (maximizing the design to make it simply as possible). Also, we should always have a balance between theory and practice in order to broaden your intellectual abilities.
The author Charles Kostelnick in the article “Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” speaks about how as technology continues to evolve, many should progress learn to comprehend the visual language of text and or documentation. By expanding the way that educators take comprehension and learning to use problem-solving skills in order to communicate effectively in writing.
After reading Kostelnick’s “Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” I learned of the belief he had that deemed the balance between theory and practice. In the reading it spoke interestingly about the school of Bauhaus that was a German school that itself united theory and practice as a interdisciplinary which belief was generally that you had to know all the skills needed to build a house to be successful not just a few. Also spoke about was the transferring of technology which then changed the designer to a professional communicator. Thanks to the transferring of technology into our lives we now not only have to know how to write but also use the tools of a computer, which has changed how we handle jobs and the deciding on who can handle the job. The idea of searching for a universal style which pended from Bauhaus spoke about creating a style that was universal to everyone all over the world something I think computers have done with things like coding even though culture challenges a international approach to many other things. The use of visual language is also emphasized as something that can help the audience universally understand.
Charles Kostelnick’s “Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” is a good read for understanding the user of a document and tailoring the document to the specific user. Kostelnick methodology for achieving well written, effective documents is explained by a few principles which are: integrating verbal language and visuals to make the document appropriately effective by maximizing the interaction between words and images, the simplicity of the document’s design for functionality, contextually appropriate language that user would be accustomed to and rational problem solving skills for issues that may come up. This framework provides a solid foundation for making a document as effective as possible. Knowing the audience you are writing for and tailoring that writing is an essential skill of any writer. An emphasis on simplicity is helpful to keep in mind when writing because it is on you as the writer to be a good communicator. Kostelnick also emphasizes the importance of being a good technical communicator. I would have to agree with Kostelnick and say that a more enhanced design is not always the best way to go when designing documents because the document is much more usable when it is simple and consistent. Although designs get outdated and can be plain at times but tailored simplicity goes a long way. Overall I would say that in most cases it would be best to sacrifice aesthetics and rhetoric for increased usability. If the user cannot use the document the extra stuff is useless because the document is not doing what it was meant to do.
Charles has referenced Bauhaus which has brought in the idea of theory and praxis, it was brought together the theory and the practice together. As a saying ‘work smarter not harder’ which means that one must find a way to work easier like using some other method that will increase efficiency; for example, using new technology like google drive to be able to allow employees to work on the same document without needing to be onsite to do. That means employees can work even when they are halfway around the world and they get to work on it with the others at the same time. The idea is that people need to have a diverse skill set and not just what they are required to have according to their job description. For example, when running a hotel one must know how to manage but they also need to learn some simple laws like for the union or the laws about accidents occurring within the premises of the hotel. One needs to know more than what they are required to have because that is how one makes themselves more suited to the new environment. There are four key ideas of Bauhaus which includes; unity of text and form, the emphasis on economy and simplicity, the search for a universal and objective style, and the faith in intuition. Kostelnick also states the four things that the 21st century needs to learn from Bauhaus. Include visual and verbal language for the document to serve the purpose that it was assigned, make the design of the document simple but functional, use the visual language to have the audience to be related to the context of the document, and also to solve problems with instinct but also rationally during the process.
Kostelnick in his essay “Typographical design, modernist aesthetics, and professional communication” seeks to examine and show the connections between architecture, art, and typography and how The principles of modernism coalesced in the Bauhaus, an international school of design that began in Weimar (1919-1925), this is how the connection came about.
The main principles of Bauhaus are: unity of text and form:the design of the content, architecture: simplicity and economy:the search for a universal objective style, typography:the faith in intuition have confidence in what you do.
Which really sounds similar to the guidelines for information architecture class I am currently taking. I didn’t quite understand what governed the need for this course, Yet its message seems clear that there is a connection between the structure, the visual design and content and language. Information architecture gives language a visual structure, by creating a clear and simply form and text, labeling to organize thoughts, and navigation to easily flow from one topic to the next. Doing this reading and learning a little more of the history behind language and architecture has helped me to understand the reasoning behind some of the other classes that I thought were not important and get why they are being taught to me.
In Charles Kostenlick’s essay, “Typographical design, modernist aesthetics, and professional communication,” he talks about how professional communicators are taking on a new role which is designing their own message. Kostelnick discusses the added responsibilities professional communicators now assume. With the evolution of technology, professional writers now have all the tools at their disposal to select their own typefaces, type sizes, design of page, icons and graphic cues. With this assumption of power, professional communicators now take the jobs of the graphic studio and printing shop. The professional communicators role has expanded to where they are writing, designing, and printing their own work. There are four ideas that were taken from the Bauhaus, which are unity of text and form, emphasis on economy and simplicity, the search for universal objective style, the faith and intuition both in terms of the innate perception of individual and collective intuition of a culture. This is a foundation of all technical writers, graphic designers, and anyone in the software content creating industry should consider. Always add your perception of good and bad in a document and consider the perception of good and bad in everyone culture to insure your document is not in the wrong light of another culture.
Charles Kostelnick, “ Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication” explained how influential the Bauhaus is to modern design. Kostelnick focuses on four possible ways to implement Bauhaus design into technical documents: integrate visual and verbal language to achieve the purpose of the document; maximize the effect of the document by message visually and verbally. The second is considered strict economy to be as much an aesthetic and rhetorical as a functional criterion. The third is to use visual language to the context of the document. Lastly, combine intuitive and rational problem solving during the writing and design process.