Bauhaus essay

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My Bauhaus Essay

What influence did the Bauhaus have on Graphic Design and does this still exist in modern design?

Aaron Mcauley

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What influence did the Bauhaus have on Graphic Design and does this still exist in modern design?

My Bauhaus Essay

Aaron McCauley

Introduction Colour theory Typograpghy Photogram Do the theorys still exsist today?

Conclusion References Illustrations Bibliography

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My Bauhaus Essay

Introduction

This essay is based upon the influence the Bauhaus had on Graphic design and if it still exists today. Firstly I will look at the Bauhaus principles then go on to talk about key principles and theories taught by four very important teachers, Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, Herbert Bayer and Laszlo Moholy Nagy.

As I am talking about each theory I will give examples of modern work that still use these methods to back up my argument, this being that the Bauhaus still influence Graphic design today.

The Bauhaus was an art school in Germany that combined arts and craft.

Bauhaus is a German word for “school of building”. It began in Weimar, 1919, which was then the capital of post WW1 Germany. It later moved onto Dessau from 1925 – 1932 and finally finished in Berlin from 1932 – 1933. It was founded

by Walter Gropius who was In charge from 1919 – 1928 [01] ‘Gropius believed that artists could provide the necessary vision for the creation of a new kind of design that would serve modern society’. He was once quoted “The ultimate aim of all artistic activity is building! Architects, sculptors, painters, we must all get back to craft! The artist is a heightened manifestation of the craftsman. Let us form ... a new guild of craftsmen without the class divisions that set out to raise an arrogant barrier between craftsmen and artists! Let us together create the new building of the future which will be all in one: architecture and sculpture and painting.” The Bauhaus is known for the major impact it had on modern design including architecture, art, graphic design, interior design and typography. The movement wanted to embrace 20th century machine culture in a way that basic necessities like buildings, furniture and also design could be made in a practical but affective way. The Bauhaus principles transformed how students work and focused on basic design, composition, colour theory, and craftsmanship, in a number of disciplines. It is apparent that these principles still have an influence on designers work today.

Artists could provide the necessary vision for the creation of a new kind of design that would serve modern society

The Bauhaus had a number of design principles for the school, these included, mass production over craftsmanship, synthesis of fine & applied arts. New and modern sense of beauty through rational design, a forward thinking over an academically qualified faculty, thorough experience with materials and students must be equipped for modern world in various aspects including artistic, social, economic and must function within society as a vital participant rather than a decorator.The Bauhaus used modern technologies so they could succeed in a modern environment. Using functional techniques such as simplicity, symmetry, angularity, consistency, unity, organization, sharpness, regularity and monochromaticity they where able to produce basic but affective designs. [02] ‘Bauhaus designs were meant to express modernity because with there strict geometry they were free of traditional ornament and embodied a new rationalism’.

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Colour theory

The colour theory of the Bauhaus was developed and taught by Johannes Itten, who was a swiss painter and a pivotal member of the school. He created a colour sphere that included primary and secondary colours (See Fig.1) and the Bauhaus only ever used three colours maximum in their posters.

The school also focused on grid structures & geometric forms with the use of basic shapes & lines. Wassily Kandinsky a Russian born painter and art theorist was one of the schools most famous thinkers and artists.(See Fig.7) He wanted to create a visual style that would change cultural differences and language barriers. He believed that there was a connection between colour and shape (See Fig.29) and that certain shapes & colours complemented each other and he stated “Colour is a power which directly influences the soul”. His theory was that yellow and triangle worked together perfectly as they both strengthened each others sharpness. [03] ‘bright yellow may be perceived as sour or can hurt the eye’. Red corresponds with a square and blue corresponds with a circle. Kandinsky examined his theory by creating a test for his students. The test had a square, triangle and circle as well as the colours red, yellow and blue on a page, the students had to simply match the colour they thought suited each shape the best.The results of these tests proved his theory as most of the students that participated had chosen the same as Kandinsky’s theory. This became clear that the relationship between colour and shapes deeply connected.

Fig.7 Wassily Kandinsky

Fig.29 Effect of colours and shapes

Fig.1 Johannes Itten, Colour wheel 4

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Fig.6 Hazard signs This theory still applies within today. Numerous companies use the colour blue and circle shape together in their brand logos for e.g. Zurich insurance company, General electric, Nasa (see Fig.3), Volkswagen (See Fig.2), Danone, AT&T, Alfa Romeo, ESA, P&G, HP, Nivea, Iphone apps safari & app store and a blue circle has also been incorporated into the world diabetes day logo.The colour red and square shape are used by Red Square vodka, History channel, Lego, Youtube, Quicksilver, New balance, Flash player app, Adobe (See Fig.5), Swatch, Illy, Old spice and McDonalds. The colour yellow and a triangle is used in logos such as, CAT, Toblerone and VISA although the yellow triangle is more used in road signs, warning signs on computer, car clamps, dangerous chemical signs, hazardous signs (See Fig.6) on children’s toys and cheese is also portrayed as a triangle in everyday life. Following on from his theory Kandinsky then started working on point and line forms, He started creating his work using geometrical elements, mostly the circle, half circle, the angle, straight lines and curves. He also adhered to his colour theory and only used the colours red, yellow and blue throughout all his work. Most of his work is abstract and follows the Bauhaus principles by focusing on form over function.

Fig.2 Volkswagen logo

Fig.3 Nasa logo

Fig,5 Adobe logo 5

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Fig.9 Herbert Bayer, Leipzig 1927 6

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Typograpghy

Typography grew to become the Bauhaus’ great legacy, rather than have words as text they believed they should be a graphic element. Based on being architectural, almost like a chair, it should function on its own as words and as artistic tools in the space. Typographers of the Bauhaus were masters of wrapping text and of setting words at sharp angles, however the meaning of the words always came first and the clever design second. They also refused to use upper and lower case letters in the same work, it was either one or the other and they preferred using sans serif fonts. One of the Bauhaus included to ‘be as imaginative with your typography as you are with every other tool in your toolbox, but make sure it never detracts from your message’ and ‘Make your design accessible. If you’re hoping to appeal to a wide audience, avoid over-stylizing. Reduce your design to its most essential elements’. Herbert Bayer an Austrian and American graphic designer is the most closely identified individual with the Bauhaus. He studied for 4 years than was appointed as director of painting and advertising.

In 1925 Walter Gropius instructed Bayer to design a new font. Bayer embraced the Bauhaus styles and theory and created a font called ‘Universal’. It was designed for foster communication.

Masters of wrapping text and of setting words at sharp angles

What was interesting is that at that time most of the printed material designed in Germanys text was printed in Fraktur, which was a heavy blackletter typeface and was difficult to read. Fraktur is still available in many modern packages including Microsoft Word. Fraktur was the opposite of the Bauhaus ideas and theory’s. Its illegibility reflected the old fashioned German culture. It was a typeface designed for the upper classes. It was the complete opposite of Herbert’s ‘universal’ as it was all lower case, simple and legible. It was a typeface for everyone. He is quoted saying “Typography is a service art, not fine art”. Universal (See Fig.8) was a simple geometric sans serif fonts which used simple curves and other attributes. Bayer removed the use of both upper and lowercase letters only using one in each set following the Bauhaus principles. The typeface was only ever a proposal and was never made into real type although it helped to define the atheistic of the Bauhaus and fell right in with the ‘form over function’ theory they had created.

“Typography is a service art, not fine art”

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Fig.15

Fig.8 Herbert Bayer, Universal

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These typography theory’s are still in use today, an example of this is Barrack Obamas Berlin poster from 2008. During his presidential campaign Barrack Obama was to visit Berlin, to advertise this a poster was made in very similar style to the Bauhaus (See Fig.10). It had diagonal words, upper case letters in a sans serif font and it is very simple lines with no unnecessary decorations.

A poster made for the film Oceans 12 in 2004 uses the Bauhaus grid structure and also uses just uppercase letters. Android use the same type style as the Bauhaus in their brand name and logos and they also include a background which very much looks like a bauhaus inspired piece of work with the over ascended and descended letters and the of simple lines and colours. The huge 2012 film ted uses only lower case letters throughout their advertising, posters and dvd covers. The logo of news company CNN is in the Bauhaus style using a typeface which was custom made (See Fig.12).There is also numerous modern typefaces that use the same geometric constructivist Bauhaus inspired design that are used today, these include, Joost, Erbar, Futura, Super grotesk, Avenir (See Fig.13) , Superla, Albers, Neuzeit, Nobel, Twentieth Century.

Fig.13 Avenir type poster

Fig.12 CNN logo

Fig.10 Barrack Obama presidential poster, Berlin 2008 9

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Fig.14 Moholy Nagy 10

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Photogram

Leading on from the Bauhaus theory on typography Hungarian painter and photographer Laszlo Moholy Nagy became a professor at the school in 1923, he also worked in the fields such as, printmaking, industrial design, sculpture and typography. Nagy brought the school away from its expressionistic learnings and brought them closer to their aims of design and industrial integration. When asked about his view on design he said, “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, colour, volume and space. Thinking in relationships.” He focused his work on typography and experimental film. Laszlo was influenced by constructivism and looked to bring technology and industry into arts and he believed that photography could create a whole new way of seeing the world that the human eye could not and was intrigued in techniques such as, photomontage and photograms. While experimenting with photograms his aim was to capture light from the best angle and make it a plastic material. To try out his theory he used transparent and translucent objects such as, crystal, glass, liquids, veils, and sieves rather than using opaque objects.

As Moholy was interested in type and photo he wanted to bring them both together using words and photos, and he did which created ‘typo-photo’, (See Fig.14) this was seen as a new way to communicate concepts and mass messages by Laszlo. He thought the photographic images could draw people away from depending on others interpretations. He used other techniques such as, enlargement, distortion, dropouts and double exposures in almost all his poster designs. Moholy referred to typo-photo as “the visually most exact rendering of communication” or as “the new visual literature”. Typo photo went on to become very popular and it became the modern idea for advertising.

These techniques and theory are very much in use throughout design today, a lot of work done by David Carson (See Fig.16) and Paul rand have been influenced through typo-photo and you can clearly see this throughout their work.

In 2009 Anna Morvay produced a series of work which was using typo-photo called new dimension (See Fig.17.18.19.20). In the same year Sara Ulrich created a series of images called transparency manifests. Thomas Ruff one of Germany’s most successful photographers creates many photograms. Mitch Goldstein, a graduate student in Virginia has a number of posters created by typo-photo.

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Fig.17 Anna Morvay

Fig.16 David Carson

Fig.18 Anna Morvay

Fig.19 Anna Morvay

Fig.20 Anna Morvay

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Do the theorys still exsist today?

So do the techniques and theory of the bauhaus still influence todays society?

Yes, it most definitely does. There is a lot of designers and companies that have been influenced by the Bauhaus and carryout the same styles in modern design. Another few examples are, Microsoft (See Fig.21). They have stated that the Bauhaus are behind their design principles, taken from their website talking about the foundations of modern design it says, ‘The Bauhaus: Beginning in 1919, this iconic design school promoted a powerful design philosophy: remove anything that’s superfluous. It’s one thing to understand what your app’s core functions are, but it takes discipline to fiercely reduce functionality down to that core. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry observed that perfection is achieved when there is no longer anything to take away. Simplicity leads to beauty, but also to usability.’ This is one of three distinct pillars in which their design language is based on. Catch me if you can film (See Fig11). The title sequence is made in the Bauhaus style following on from 60’s movies such as, Anatomy of a murder, North by Northwest (See Fig.22) and Vertigo by Saul Bass. All these included flat colour, joyful block text, cut paper like and geometric animation. Lucienne Roberts created artwork for the Women Fashion Power show where she looked at constructivism and feminism to get her ideas. One piece called Women Fashion Power clock (See Fig.23)and the other Women Power Fashion graphics (See Fig.24) both have the same style as the bauhaus with the diagonal lines, slanted text, use of flat 3 colours and also looks like typo-photo is used on the text. French design duo My name is Wendy created posters for DIMENSION, again the use of lines, san serif text, block colours, simple shapes all reverts back to Bauhaus design. I also came across an exhibition in the MAC Gallery in Belfast and there was paintings from Tom Ellis, these included simple shapes and lines together to create an image (See Fig.25.26.27.28), it looks exactly like a Bauhaus creation, block colours and geometric style. A studio based in Istanbul called Sarp Sozdinler create lovely posters as part of their portfolio.

The pieces included shapes, geometry, typo-photo, diagonal horizontal vertical lines, san serif type, block colours and photomontage.

Fig.23 Lucienne Roberts, Women Fashion Power show

Fig.24 Lucienne Roberts, Women Fashion Power show

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Fig. 21 Microsoft, Windows 8 layout

Fig.11 Catch me if you can, title sequence

Fig.22 North by northwest, Title sequence

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Fig.26 MAC Gallery, Belfast

Fig.25 MAC Gallery, Belfast

Fig.28 MAC Gallery, Belfast

Fig.27 MAC Gallery, Belfast

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Conclusion

Through the design principles, techniques and beliefs of the Bauhaus they have had a major impact and have revolutionised design. Many companies and designers have been influenced by what they have achieved and they strive to do the same. They follow the design principles set by the Bauhaus hoping to one day be as big as them. Everywhere you go and everything you look at in todays design will somehow have had influence from the Bauhaus in one way or another, its just everywhere and theres no getting rid of it.They’ve developed how you react to colour and what you associate colour with. The Bauhaus definitely still has an impact on design today, the school has changed and developed design for the better.They’ve took away all the unnecessary clutter in design and replaced it with simplicity and professionalism. It still has a major impact because when it was first introduced it made such a big difference and people still stick to the theory they have created, its become apart of what design is and it will always have a big part to play in modern design.

I wanted to prove that the Bauhaus still influence Graphic design today and I have done this throughout the essay by talking about there principles and comparing them with valid modern day examples. I focused on three main sections, Colour theory, Typography, photography and through thorough research I have found examples that still use the Bauhaus techniques in these areas.

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References 01 Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus years (1983) The Solomon R Gruggenheim Foundation, New York. Page 42 02 Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus years (1983) The Solomon R Gruggenheim Foundation, New York. Page 47 03 Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus years (1983) The Solomon R Gruggenheim Foundation, New York. Page 45

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Illustrations Fig.1 http://bauhaus-online.de/files/imagecache/480h/bilder/201_batz_raeumliche_wirkung.jpg Fig.2 http://cartype.com/images/page/Volkswagen_5.jpg Fig.3 http://ne.spacegrant.org/uploads/images/Logos/nic_web300x250ppi.png Fig.4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus Fig.5 http://www.h3dwallpapers.com/adobe-logo-1953/ Fig.6 http://www.vectorilla.com/2010/01/27-vector-warning-signs/ Fig.7 http://bauhaus-online.de/en/atlas/werke/small-worlds Fig.8 https://nadinechicken.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/bayer_6.jpg Fig.9 http://tipografos.net/bauhaus/bayer.html Fig.10 http://blog.visual.ly/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Poster-for-Obama-inBerlin.jpg Fig.11 http://cdn2.artofthetitle.com/assets/resized/sm/upload/l0/sq/la/l3/catch_ me_if_you_can_contact-0-1080-0-0.jpg?k=eaf43bd70d Fig.12 http://fontmeme.com/cnn-font/ Fig.13 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/AvenirSP.png Fig.14 http://sylviemvlopes.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/lc3a1szlc3b3-moholy-nagy1.jpg Fig.15 http://bauhaus-online.de/files/imagecache/480h/bilder/304_einband_ bauhaus_1923_0.jpg Fig.16 https://gridsetapp.com/specs/carson/ Fig.17.18.19.20 http://typophoto2009annamorvay.blogspot.co.uk Fig.21 http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/philosophy/how-bauhaus-design-helpingbuild-better-web Fig.22 http://cdn4.artofthetitle.com/assets/sm/upload/u9/zy/nm/zs/nxnw_c. jpg?k=0bd6d23a13 Fig.23.24 http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/women-fashion-power Fig.25.26.27.28 own source, MAC Gallery, Belfast.

Fig.29 http://www.sitepoint.com/nailing-detail-bauhaus-design/ 18

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Books The Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum, New York 1983, Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus Years 1915-1933 Thames and hudson Ltd, Great Britain 1985, Moholy Nagy.

Web Bauhaus Dessau http://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/english/home.html Nailing the Detail : Bauhaus Design Principles http://www.sitepoint.com/nailing-detail-bauhaus-design/ Bauhaus Movement, Artists and Major Works http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm The Bauhaus’s philosophy was that form should... http://universalruntime.tumblr.com/post/4728728007/the-bauhauss-philosophywas-that-form-should The Bauhaus, 1919–1933 http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm THE BAUHAUS (GERMANY) 1919 - 1930s http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/bauhaus1.html Bauhaus at the Barbican: art as life http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/apr/27/bauhaus-art-as-life-barbican Bauhaus http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/bauhaus.php Wassily Kandinsky http://bauhaus-online.de/en/atlas/personen/wassily-kandinsky Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works http://www.theartstory.org/artist-moholy-nagy-laszlo.htm The fiery stimulator http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/mar/18/art.modernism Herbert Bayer http://library.rit.edu/gda/designer/herbert-bayer http://www.designishistory.com/1920/herbert-bayer/ http://www.type.nu/bayer/ Herbert Bayer, designer alemão. Bauhaus. sturm blond. alfabeto elementar.

Bauhaus. http://tipografos.net/bauhaus/bayer.html Thinking Herbert Bayer. 04 05 1900 http://thinkingform.com/2012/04/05/thinking-herbert-bayer-04-05-1900/ photoquotations.com ⁄ herbert bayer http://photoquotations.com/a/64/Herbert+Bayer 19

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Herbert Bayer Typography Quote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8b7LVkibow philosophy http://academic.chrissnider.com/bauhaus/pages/philosophy.html Itten’s Color Wheel http://colorwheelco.com/colortheory/ittenscolorwheel.php Six Lessons from the Bauhaus: Masters of the Persuasive Graphic http://blog.visual.ly/six-lessons-from-the-bauhaus-masters-of-the-persuasivegraphic/ Wassily Kandinsky Quotes http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/wassily_kandinsky.html Herbert Bayer https://nadinechicken.wordpress.com/tag/herbert-bayer/ Bauhaus: Ninety Years of Inspiration http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/02/bauhaus-ninety-years-of-inspiration/ CNN Font and CNN Font Generator http://fontmeme.com/cnn-font/ László Moholy-Nagy http://bauhaus-online.de/en/atlas/personen/laszlo-moholy-nagy Bauhaus http://www.csun.edu/~pjd77408/DrD/Art461/LecturesAll/Lectures/lecture07/bauhaus.html László Moholy-Nagy. Photograms 1922-1943 http://www.fundaciotapies.org/site/spip.php?rubrique471 typophoto2009 anna morvay http://typophoto2009annamorvay.blogspot.co.uk Modern Photograms by Thomas Ruff http://www.dw.de/modern-photograms-by-thomas-ruff/av-18000716 mitch goldstein https://www.typographicposters.com/mitch-goldstein/ Modern design http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh781237.aspx

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