Walter Gropius; The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus (1923), László Moholy-Nagy; Typophoto (1925), On Typography (1967) in Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field by Helen Armstrong on pages 32-34 and 44-49.

Question & Prompt

  • According to these authors, what is missing from the art of the past?
  • What role should typography, photography, and other media play in shaping a new kind of art? 
  • What role should language play in art and design?
  • What sort of new strategies or ideas will be necessary for future art forms? 
  • What should education or “the academy” teach artists about their field?

Reading Response

According to the authors, the piece that was missing from art of the past is the ability to explore what you have learned in school and the lack of experiences in the real world. Just learning art from school isn’t enough. Even if you have the knowledge of art or design, if you don’t know how to apply it, you might as well quit because you know you’re not going to make it. Once you have the knowledge, explore and open different possibilities to design. Ask questions too. It will help in the long term.

Typography, photography, and other media should be experimented. Their role is to combine one kind of media with another media. For example, typophoto. It combines the concept of typography and photography. In other words, type and photo. Similar comparisons would be ads and posters.

Language is used to convey words and thoughts and plays a big part in society. In terms of design, that language is converted into typography. We used typography to convey our designs. Whether it’s an ad or a poster. We use that language to let the viewer know what our purpose is or what we’re trying to convey. Through language, we can convey our feelings or purpose directly to the viewer.

Some new ideas or strategies would be collaboration and having great knowledge on the field of design. If you feel like something’s missing, you can collaborate with other artists and designers within your field and learn from them. See for yourself their style and try to incorporate that into your design. Having great knowledge in your field means you’ll be able to help others from being an artist or designer. It’s great to have that knowledge so you can apply it in the real world and experiment with it. Who knows, it might come in handy on one of your projects or designs.

The academy should teach their students all of the techniques that are available in this world today. Show them the techniques and apply it to the real world. After class, give them an assignment to give them a chance to apply that technique on their own. Just having knowledge on techniques isn’t enough. You have to absorb what you learn in class and apply it to the outside world.

Hypothesis Annotation

  1. Proletariat https://hyp.is/nAIudB5dEeyu1kteuYG9zw/theoria.art-zoo.com/the-theory-and-organization-of-the-bauhaus/
  2. Rewording https://hyp.is/xhcvHh5fEeyJGR-3znfJdg/theoria.art-zoo.com/the-theory-and-organization-of-the-bauhaus/
  3. Idea https://hyp.is/XHzCyB5iEeyEPE9sOpqvAQ/theoria.art-zoo.com/the-theory-and-organization-of-the-bauhaus/