Tasks Due Today

This Week’s Topics

At the end of this session, students should have an understanding of the following:

  • Overview of the Bauhaus and its influence on the field of design.
  • Guidelines and due date for the first Research Paper

Check-In & Share

Meetings

If you haven’t yet, please sign up for a remote meeting next week. If you are not available during the meeting slots, please contact me to find another time.

  • Monday 1pm-4pm
  • Tuesday 7pm-9pm

Use the Zoom Link to join the meeting.

Feedback

Feedback for the third week's assignments has been posted. Check your post to see the comment and some inline feedback via Hypothesis.

SHARE: Geometric Abstraction in South America

Latin American geometric abstraction united international principles of modernist abstraction with local cultural traditions, and led to more participatory forms of art. It also served as an ideological tool for both Latin American artists and nation-states to signal a break with traditional art styles—associated with their colonial past—and to assert a new, modern, and often utopian industrialized future.

Joaquín Torres-García was inspired by De Stijl’s emphasis on the grid and Constructivism’s geometry, as well as what he believed to be the “universalism” of nonobjective art—in other words, he believed that geometric abstraction, which does not depict recognizable figurative imagery, could be visually understood across all cultures.

Geometric Abstraction in South America, an introduction
By Dr. Gillian Sneed

Joaquín Torres García's Constructive Universalism

Uruguayan artist and art theorist Joaquín Torres García’s text: La Escuela del Sur

Other resources:

Activities

Below find the information covered in this session. Complete all of the following activities, videos, and assignments.

1. The Bauhaus: Form and Function (30 min)

In our fourth reading, we looked at writings from designers affiliated with the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus assimilated many of the ideas we've discussed, such as the utopian idea that design will make the world a better place; that it will transform society for a better way of life for all citizens; and that artists and craftspeople will work together through the use of technology and industrialization.

Some of the main tenets of the Bauhaus are still followed today in the field and in design schools across the globe.

1. A designer should strive for the highest quality and craftmanship modeled by order, geometry, and clear, refined typography.

2. Less is more. Excess ornament or information is unnecessary to communicate a message or to function.

3. Form follows function. Design should be functional. It should be organized and follow a clear hierarchy for clear communication. 

4. The use of technology and mass production of good design supports equality. If something is designed with simple forms can be accessible to everyone.

Walter Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy, and Herbert Bayer all contributed to the Bauhaus legacy. Below find some additional background to reinforce these ideas, and some follow-up questions to connect these principles to today's field of design.

The Bauhaus Principles and Influence

Rewatch Graphic Design History sections Bauhaus 1 & Bauhaus 2 on LinkedIn Learning or in the YouTube video below to refresh your knowledge of the Bauhaus. NOTE: In the following video, watch from 36:42 to 44:02

Bauhaus 1& 2 - Graphic Design History (Watch from 36:42 to 44:02)

László Moholy-Nagy and Typophoto

“Designing is not a profession but an attitude. Design has many connotations. It is the organization of materials and processes in the most productive way, in a harmonious balance of all elements necessary for a certain function. It is the integration of technological, social, and economical requirements, biological necessities, and the psychological effects of materials, shape, color, volume and space. Thinking in relationships.”

László Moholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, Chicago 1947, p.42.

Moholy-Nagy's work spanned all types of media, especially light as a medium. Of special interest to our discussion today is Moholy-Nagy's interest in photography and typography and his vision of Typophoto, which he describes as "visually most exact rendering of communication." The following video about his work was created in 1990. At the end is an animation in honor of Moholy-Nagy imagining what he might have created if he had been alive during the digital age. Can you imagine what he might create if he had access to today's technology?

A Memory of Moholy-Nagy - John Halas

Herbert Bayer and Universal Communication

“Bayer’s universal alphabet became a symbol of ‘Bauhaus typography,’ even though it was not strictly speaking a typeface... Fixed in memory through a few endlessly repeated reproductions, the universal alphabet was a philosophical idea that reverberated throughout the promotional activities of the Bauhaus and beyond … they gave form to prevalent avant-garde thinking about function, modularity, industrial standards, and machine production."

- Design Is Storytelling, Ellen Lupton
Bauhaus - Typography - CalArts

2. Discussion: Bauhaus & Universality through Technology

"What is typophoto? Typography is communication composed in type.
Photography is the visual presentation of what can be optically apprehended. Typophoto is the visually most exact rendering of communication.... a precise form of representation so objective as to permit of no individual interpretation."

László Moholy-Nagy

"Universal Communication... exploration of the potentialities of the book of true text-picture integration has only begun and will, by itself, become of utmost importance to universal understanding."

"'square span' is putting words into thought groups of two or three
short lines... the advantages of grouping words support the theory that we do not read individual letters, but words or phrases."

Herbert Bayer

The writings from Walter Gropius: The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus (1923), László Moholy-Nagy; Typophoto (1925), Herbert Bayer; On Typography and Jan Tschichold, “The Principles of the New Typography” 1928: found in our main text Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field, highlight how early avant-garde designers were looking for universal methods of communication, often searching for ideal ways to reach the masses using new technologies and modalities.

  • Photography and film were the new technologies in the age of the Bauhaus. Combined with typography László Moholy-Nagy stated that Typophoto was the "visually most exact rendering of communication."
  • Herbert Bayer is often credited with modernizing typography in the Bauhaus with his creation of the Universal alphabet. He also speaks of "text-picture integration" and the use of "square span," short grouping of words for universal communication.

Today we have multiple modes and methods of instant, mass communication. Consider the rise of "deep fakes", the short, concise messages we send via Twitter, or the lack of subtlety and tone in email, text, or emojis. Is the ability to communicate truthfully, accurately, and effectively helped and/or hindered by technology today?

3. Research Paper

Your first draft will be due by September 28th, 11:59pm.

Your final draft will be due by October 5th, 11:59pm.

Research Paper 1 Prep

Select a design or design object created after 1971 in which the influence of the theories we've studied so far can be seen. In your Research Journal, add an image and begin with a brief description of the work, the designer who created it, and the historical circumstances under which it was made. Considering these factors, examine the ways in which the creator was responding, directly or indirectly, to theories related to:

  • avant-garde art movements
  • universal systems, authorship vs anonymity, and social/political engagement
  • any of the ideas introduced (semiotics & signs, models of communication)

Discuss how the design you’ve chosen embodies or rejects some or all of these ideas. Provide direct references to relevant passages from our readings and locate additional writings using library resources and other sources to support your comparisons.

You will be providing a critical examination of the object and its relationship to the theories we've discussed, not just an account of historical details. These should be your observations and your ideas supported by published sources.

Use the links provided under Help > Course Resources > Design Collections to find your design source (advertising, graphic design, industrial design objects, motion graphics, etc.) for your paper.

This week you will spend most of your time researching and fully developing this paper.

Guidelines for this paper can be found under Assignment: Research Paper 1

Resources

Week 5 Agenda Checklist

Below are all of the tasks, big and small, for this week. The due date is Wednesday, 11:59 pm before our next class meeting. Timely completion of these tasks will contribute to your success in this course.

NOTE: Next Thursday follows a Monday schedule. We will meet again on October 6th.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Tasks from the Week 5 Agenda
Name

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