Month: October 2020 (Page 6 of 6)

In these short essays from these former designers/artist associated with the Bauhaus movement, I found interesting how they honed in heavily on the art of type and language. The importance of typographic design mixed with photography and how it changed graphic design and is still very influential to this day. In Herberts essay he lets you know the importance of typography and how essential it is to a graphic designers and the need for typography to evolve and grow so the graphic designer to can grow and not become bored within design.

László coins the term typophoto the emergence of typography and photography into one art form. This to me is what graphic design is today, we live in a digital/visual age where we communicate with each other a lot more now than ever before. To László typophoto was a manifesto of visual communication and inspired by other forms of art. I found the Walter Gropius reading hard to understand but it seems that art is something that can be taught and mastered through education that it is a profession just like another.

Reading these texts helped me better understand how artists were always looking for ways to change art and design, as well as the impact and importance technology had, and still has, on art. It also helps to show what these artist’s predictions/ideas for what the future of design would look like.

It was interesting to read “The Theory and the Organization of the Bauhaus” by Walter Gropius, where Gropius talks about school and how people should change the way they think about their work as stated – “So long, however, as machine-economy remains an end in itself rather than a means of freeing the intellect from the burden of mechanical labor, the individual will remain enslaved and society will remain disordered. The solution depends on a change in the individual’s attitude toward his work.” I personally interpreted this in terms of assignments assigned in school; and how sometimes they are seen as just something to get done and turn in for a grade, therefor becoming a form of mechanical labor, but when we start to view assignments on a broader scale and how they actually can help us, the work begins to seems less monotonous.

In “Typophoto”, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy talks about revitalizing old techniques and updating them to fit with current times. I believe he means that you can use the same techniques that were established in the past, which can cause some forms of art and design to be forgotten or overlooked (something that Bayer goes more into detail about with Typography). As such it is good to try new and different techniques that involve new innovations that were not around during the development of old techniques. This helps keeps art fresh and current.

As previously mentioned, in “On Typography”, Herbert Bayer details the complications of the foundation of typography and communication and how it can be undervalued. He also briefly talks about the advances made in typography. Bayer mentions how typography’s success depends on public view.

After reading these short excerpts we get a deeper understanding of the past, present, and future to come. It gave a clear path and understanding of experimenting with new techniques, to create a fresh style and form in communicating ideas. These artists depict how typography, photography, along with grammar and vocabulary changed and enhance the design world. Thus, showcasing the importance of these tools, how radical and innovative it became.

In the Walter Gropius, Theory, and Organization of the Bauhaus, it was based on the “academy”, spiritual meaning, and the isolation. It was thought that a piece of work was set on the belief that “only work produced by inner compulsion can have a spiritual meaning”. That one must be locked away and detached from the real world in order to make something great. The “academy” made an artist ponder that art is a profession and can only be mastered by study and talent. Which made many believe that the work and quality of the art were dependent on what we learn rather than having some form of inner talent and connection to the community. With this belief, it steered several artists down the path of thinking that knowledge was the core foundation for all creativity and design. That it can only be thought and learned. However, Gropius expressed that “Schooling alone can never produce art”; which, I can relate to. Due to the fact, that one can have all the knowledge in the world and still lack the art of creation. We can have all knowledge being thought to us; but, creating derives from talent, communication stems from the community. What we see and experience is something that can never be thought and it’s the same with talent. I believe that knowledge does play a role because talent, knowledge, and the community all work hand in hand. However, art should not solely be predominate in school and knowledge alone. Hence, Gropius expresses the limitations that an artist face with these beliefs; thus, forcing them to create with no connection.

In 1923 Moholy-Nagy joined The Bauhaus making a turn, introducing technology. He was a constructivist that embraced technology with open arms, experimenting with this new tactic. He spoke about the integration and the combining of photography and typography, to create new outlets; thus, typophoto was created. Nagy was consumed by the act of experimentation. He strives for artists to embrace all tools and creations created by mankind. As he states “Typophoto is the visually most exact rendering of communication”. That “typophoto governs the new tempo of the new visual literature.” The future for artists to come are broadened and as artists, we should accept these tools of technology. It will change the creative process and how we communicate. Moholy-Nagy revealed that “ In the future, every printing press will possess its block-making plant … the future of typographic methods lies with the photomechanical processes.” That all this machinery, new-found technology, and science will impact and dominate design. Today we can see how magazines both digital and hard copy depicts this theory. As Moholy-Nagy says this “pictorial” “new spirit” will be the new light and sense in the way we communicate and live.

The present and the future have and will change drastically as Herbert Bayer said in On Typography. How we communicate will change, many things will be upgraded and be eliminated. How we write, read and interact will be altered and re-modified. Bayer tells us how a more universal visual bridge will be created. It starts with us the artist followed by science to give support and new outlets for a more purposeful way to handle the visual language and communication. For example, currently, we see how many people in this day and age go to the web to look up information rather than going to the library and picking up a book. Many people resort to getting electronic books rather than a hard copy. He said “the storage of books will be replaced by microfilms” which we can see today. Well, we don’t call them microfilms we call them movies. However, slowly but surely the traditional ways are being put out and being replaced with the new.  

Reading these short texts have given me an a detailed understanding of how designing can be a real talent, how typography, photography, language as in grammar and vocabulary are a very important tool in the design world. 

In the short reading “ The Theory and the Organization of the Bauhuas” by Walter Gropius, the part that stood out the most was “schooling alone can never produce art” I can somewhat agree with that because I myself never really knew about graphic design never thought of being one I grew up to like drawing that’s it. Even though some might not have the talent to become a designer but being ambitious about it will give you an opportunity. He also mentions of having to learn grammar and vocabulary and I believe those are very important elements in the art/design world because they bring a different way of communication into our designs. 

The reading “On Typography” by Herbert Bayer shows how he reduced his letterform designs by eliminating capital letter and serifs. He talks about the universal communication and how there is a barrier between languages that a universal visual medium has to be evolved, the only way is for science to step up and support. The evolution of typography and design have changed drastically especially technology wise, like what Herbert Bayer said “… we will write and read less and less and the book may be eliminated all together”. 

After reading the three short texts, it is clear that in the past, artists were always trying to experiment with different techniques and to come up with new design ideas. This, in fact, is something that has not changed over the years. Designers are constantly looking for ways to innovate and improve the way we communicate ideas.

In Walter Gropius; The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus, we can appreciate  how design was taught. First of all “the academy” believed that talent was very important when it comes to study design “a work of art depends on the talent of the individual who creates it. This quality can not be taught and cannot be learned.” I kind of agree with this statement because sometimes you can see how smart an knowledgeable a person is, they can learn in school; however, talent is something natural that cannot be taught. 

Gropius also talks about language, one of the things he said about it is that for us to speak a language, we have to know both vocabulary and grammar. It also applies to design because we, designers have not only to know theory, but how to apply it. 

Herbert Bayer; On Typography talks about the evolution of typography and its usage in design. With the development of science and technology, artists and designers have been exposed to adapt themselves to change. He introduces us to the idea of square span, this, at the time was a new way to display sentences by grouping words, changing the colors, and so on. Basically, breaking the rules. In the section New Slaves, Bayer talks about the  evolution of communication. He is right on everything he says because that is what happened since the invention of science and technology. Computers have substituted books, I was reading these texts on my iPad and it’s here where I’m typing this assignment. “This suggests that we will write and read less and less”, he says, and he is absolutely right with that. 

Typofoto, by László Moholy-Nagy talks about the integration of type and typography and the machine as one of the best allies to the future. His ideas of how technology would innovate and change the way we communicate were right “tomorrow we shall be able to look into the heart of our fellow man, be everywhere and yet be alone”, he was right. We are living in a world where technology is ruling our everyday lives, we do not need to travel to visit our loved ones, but nowadays, the increase  of anxiety and depression is higher. 

According to these artists, the art in the past was centered around “the academy” and keeps the artist away from the industry and handicraft. Walter Gropius said this situation limits the artists and their possibilities. He made a clear statement when he declared “Schooling alone can never produce art”. Besides, the education of the basis is necessary in parallel with the experience in the real world, where the artists can find inspiration even in environments that are not related to art.
The new strategies that they referred are those related to the new world who is heavily influenced by the prominent presence of the visual arts, in a world where what we see determines if we are attracted or not to the art, literature, and advertisement. This brings the necessity of adapting the words to the visual, mix them, make them compatible, and created a specie of visual literature. All these components are necessary to fuse and keep pushing the new ways of forms of art and design that will determine how the future will look.
The language must find new paths to keep transmitting its meaning in the new eras, the language should appropriate the advantages of visual art to deliver in a clearer manner to new generations. The more we see, the less we read. Constant exposure to visual material has dulled our sense of seeing and our memory. This phenomenon is devastating for the new apprentices and students, who are unable to hold their attention in long readings, lectures, or educational videos. This is a huge wall that my generation must surpass to get the knowledge. At least until the technology finds a way to transmit those pieces of knowledge directly to our brains.
They preview a world where the library will be a substitute for an archive of microfilms. Now, we know in the reality library will be a substitute for a digital version inside of the internet. Where we can access all that knowledge through hyperlinks. However, the idea of the books disappearing from the paper medium keeps being a running possibility. Finally. They predicted they will be a universal visual medium that closes the gap between languages. They are huge advances in that field. We can name translator programs directly, emojis, graphic elements that acknowledge almost in the whole roundness of the planet.