COP Essay - ‘To what extent have Modernist design principles influenced contemporary graphic design?’
When I began considering the different essay questions I was initially drawn to this one. My reason for this was as even though I did not know much about Modernism at that time, my assumption of it was still to be this influential style/ way of thinking that did have a large influence on how Graphic Design is practised today. I wanted to relish this opportunity to explore the history behind the movement and how these principles may have carried over into our contemporary design.
I quickly learnt how modernism is a very broad movement within art, design and architecture but also quite a reductive one. Stemming from the radical political, social, cultural and economic changes at the end of the 19th to the start of the 20th century it was a revolutionary time. With technological and scientific advancements, things such as the Industrial Revolution led the concept of mass-production and the invention of Lithography, changing how graphics and art were produced. The effect of the World Wars led society to question the value of all forms of established thinking and practise, which thus extended into the art and design field. This desire to work towards something completely new or avant-garde proves a key core principle of modernism, as many visual artists of the time felt the traditions of past work no longer represented the advancing times they were living in. It should be seen as more of a way of thinking than a style, as Greenhalgh (2001) highlights how the first phase of the movement was essentially just “a set of ideas, a vision of how the designed world could transform human consciousness and improve the material conditions” (pg 3). These were then expressed physically through manifestos, hundreds of prototypes and buildings, showing how this new way of thinking was growing Internationally into something more.
The Pioneers of modernism started becoming apparent within a series of sub-movements across the world, individuals started expressing their new forward-thinking mindsets to address their own ideas of an appropriate ‘modern’ style. There were many of these movements within modernism in the early 20th century including Expressionism to Fauvism, Cubism to Futurism, Dada to Surrealism, De Stijl and Suprematism to Constructivism; all with slightly different focuses. As they started emerging out of various countries it was clear how each of them had an institution or gallery which was what was allowing the designers and artists to come together and formulate their ideas into a movement. In Holland (1917), a small group of architects, designers and painters cut off from the international community by WW1, created a forum for themselves by founding a publication (Design is History, 2011). They called it the same as their movement - De Stijl, which is dutch for ‘the style’. The movement proposed ultimate simplicity and abstraction through which they could express a Utopian idea of harmony and order in their work. This was achieved through the reduction of elements to geometric abstraction consisting of only the most basic design components — vertical and horizontal lines and then primary colours. They universally applied these principles to their art, design and architecture resulting in consistency across all. Not to mention these ideas of minimal simplicity and establishing balance between solid and empty space are all key features of design work at present. For example, the use of grids to create parameters to work within for editorial design and to be more specific to a product, the latest tile design of Windows products displays a coloured grid system which could have arguably been drawn from the concept. But this focus on balance between solid and empty spaces can also be known as ‘figure’ and ‘ground’ today, in-which Vignelli and Mueller-Brockman consider to be so essential to consider in the structure of design. As it relates to the arrangement of single words in an article, to whole groups of images and the negative space which surrounds it. The negative space of the canvas is just as important as the positive elements that we place on as design is an arrangement of both shapes and space. As Jan Tschichold is known for saying “White space is to be regarded as an active element, not a passive background” (Bradley, 2014) thus displaying to us how concepts that have been developed from these initial modernist movements, have now developed into something that is still ‘vital’ in the consistencies of todays designs.
In Germany, the focus was not a journal but a school of art and design. The Bauhaus provided the centre for German Modernism from 1919 until shut down by the Nazis in ’33. Proving to be a major influence on the development of 20th century design, the school encouraged simplified forms, rationality, functionality and the idea that mass production could live in harmony with artistic individuality. Among its many contributions to the development of design, the Bauhaus taught typography as part of its curriculum and was instrumental in the development of sans-serif typography, which they favoured for its simplified geometric forms and as an alternative to the heavily ornate German standard of blackletter typography (Design is History, 2011). It was Herbet Beyer's universal typeface (1926) which is a perfect example of Bauhaus ideas: simple, economical of form, legible and clean, and international — no umlauts or capital letters to declare its German-ness! These all being popular characteristics of the typography used nowadays.
Typography in design also seemed to be influenced by the development of Futurism (or more specifically Futurist poetry), its influence looked at how type was used. The movement began with Filippo Marinetti’s manifesto with its enthusiasm for war, machines, speed and the modern life (Design History, 2005). Which resulted in the art being very experimental with portraying speed, energy and dynamic/violent movements. The poets and writers rejected the traditional grammar and syntax, so harmony was not important and type could be used freely and in an expressive form in itself. This can be seen to have developed into current graphic design as type is a vital tool that can be manipulated and used to communicate many different messages from the same word/text. This is illustrated in the John Maeda TED talk were he displays how different styles of type, reading the same word, can depict such different moods and messages to the audience - a key feature which is now lavished by graphic designers to trigger different responses to a piece of design within advertising for example.
In Russia 1915 Suprematism was born, characterised by simple geometric shapes (in particular squares and circles) and associated with ideas of spiritual purity. It is a subjective style of art and its simplification of form and use of geometry influenced among many other things, the development of Constructivism and the Bauhaus. The style developed as Russia was in a revolutionary state and needed to rid of the old and create something new and avant-garde. It was primarily developed in the field of painting although its practice extended to poetry and theatre.
Constructivism was primarily an art and architectural movement, where design (like Suprematism) was not the main focus. It rejected the idea of art for arts' sake and the focus on the traditional middle class of society to which previous art had been aimed at. On the other hand its art became a practise directed towards social change or that would serve a social purpose; this describing part of the responsibility of a Graphic Designer perfectly as ones design should aim to communicate messages (always with social considerations) to the audience. Developing after World War I, the movement aimed to push people to rebuild society in a Utopian model rather than the one that had led to the war. Graphic Design ranged from the production of product packaging to logos, posters, book covers and advertisements. It was Aleksander Rodchenko who's graphic design works became an inspiration to many people in the western world, most was done for the Russian airline company Dobrolet, producing many packages, advertisements, logos and posters.
In the western world, the grid has become a derived discipline from modernism representing structure and layout. In Russia, however, early constructivist artists developed it differently and in Rodchenko’s work it moved away from this Western path planned out for it (Tupitsyn, 2009). Instead, it offered an exit from two-dimensional production with his design for the cover of one of his hand-made catalogues for the 5 x 5=25 exhibition that opened in autumn 1921. For this Rodchenko used the typographical grid that has since represented an ordering system for graphic designers, but he used it on the basis of mapping the two-dimensional area rather than actually organising the new socialist reality. In graphic design today it is a guideline that helps the designer align elements in relation to each other, with consistent margins and columns it creates an underlying structure that unifies the pages of a document and makes the layout process more efficient. The grid offers a rationale and a starting point for each composition, converting a blank area into a structured field (from GD The New Basics). The design principles of the constructivists is still borrowed, and stolen, from in much of graphic design today, even if their use of the grid system varied slightly in comparison to how its used today!
All of these movements held exhibitions, published manifestos and created prototype objects and buildings in the name of their slightly varying modernist movement. By 1925, modernist activity was present in most Western countries and the new design began being adapted to the local demographics and industrial/political conditions. Modernists throughout Europe argued violently through letters, articles and personal confrontations but putting all of this aside, is it possible to discern a core of common ideas? Greenhalgh (2001, pg 8 onwards) has attempted to identify theoretical features which characterised the broad sweep of Modernism activity and I am going to discuss a few of these principles of modernism which unite the sub-groups and can be applied to contemporary Graphic Design.
One of the biggest principles of all the modernist movements was the constant mindset of moving forward to a new, more stable society than the last. New technologies were demonstrating these new advancements and acted as a kick-starter for the modernist ideas of aesthetic advance. The view of striving away from the past unsatisfactory conditions of society, meant that the new avant-garde movements searched for enlightenment through new design techniques and ideas. This rejection of the past is referred to as anti-historicism and all the sub-movements practised this. It happened for an array of reasons however modernists saw this a rebellion against the past struggles, they felt it put humanity in the drivers seat more actively as the technologies being produced had the power to make society more efficient and comfortable to live in.
If we compare this to the modern day, the view of constantly advancing society clearly still stands however we have learnt to learn from the past a lot more. Considering The Vignelli Canon, which displays very modernist structured views of design that he had learnt from his forebears and peers, but also how his teaching in turn refined and extended them even further. It shows how he suggests the best way to begin a new project nowadays is to consider the ‘semantics’. You need to be able to understand a subject in all of its aspects in order to produce the most appropriate direction of development for the new design. It means you need to do your research on the work that came before-hand, in order to learn from it and ensure your design will do everything the old one did, but more.
Form follows function is a phrase that modernists have been throwing round since the beginning. It suggests how the intended function (purpose) of the design should always come first and it is what inspired the minimal design styles, through stripping designs back to the essence. Modernists do not want over-complications within their design and do not want to crowd the message, so these simplistic principles which the likes of the Bauhaus and De Stijl share have stemmed from this idea in order to communicate their ideas to the audience as the most appropriate designs of highest visual and practical quality. Design should never appear as it does to just ‘look nice’, it must appear as it does with regards to what it is meant to do, so it becomes a more natural design which has been moulded and adapted to be the best. Again Vignelli supports this notion of the importance of a designs purpose (Aiga Article, 1998). It results in detailed analysis of what the problem is, its meaning (as shown above in considerations of past design) and then what its range of solutions are. He suggests how you have to trial each possibility in order to determine the most appropriate for the specific problem, thus hopefully resulting in the best response. This is the basis of which contemporary Graphic Design works on and it is clear that the Bauhaus has had a lot of influence on it. They stress how everything they have produced embodies this concept principle of form always reflecting and enhancing the function of the design. This is displayed in all of their work but especially in a set of tables designed by Marcel Breuer while working at the Bauhaus. Each table perfectly slots within the others to create perfect spacial functionality and it teaches us how you should never sacrifice your message for your design. The Bauhaus reinforced the idea into their students that you should use your design to reinforce your message, never the other way around. So use the information and the narrative first, in order to inspire your artistic flair secondly.
Altogether in his book Greenhalgh sums up 12 theoretical similarities he has identified within the modernist movement, I am unable to talk of them all but will finish by briefly discussing the next two most important principles in my opinion, which follow the two I have already discussed.
The Modern Movement was said to have achieved Internationalism, meaning it had achieved to provide the world with design for all, acting as a universal ‘language’. This was done by breaking down international barriers between disciplines and classes of consumers, all being part of the ‘quest for a universal human consciousness’. They achieved to do this then however it is safe to say that now the varying design mindsets across the world can clash, but also you can see consistencies through design that all stem from Modernist principles.
Truth to materials is another principle that signifies the Modernist Movement. It is the celebration of the material that has been selected for use and the reliance on its properties to provide the required level of quality and functionality for the product/piece of design. Modernists avoided contrivances which created an illusion or false impression of the material, this way the way an object is made is then apparent and its visual attractiveness had to come directly out of the materials used and process of construction use. Allowing design overall, to be ‘truthful’ to itself and the consumers. At the present time this principle has been lost in the design process, as materials and their properties are forever being enhanced and adjusted so the above the line characteristics ensure quality for consumers, disregarding the concept as some designers can often view aesthetics and function separately and not celebrate both as the Modern Movement does.
I can confidently conclude that varying design principles from the Modernism movement have been developed and thus carried forward into our contemporary Graphic Design. From Bauhaus’ minimalism and typographies, to De Stijl’s consideration of the balance between solid and empty space. But in the revised edition of her book S. Gablik (2004) questions whether or not Modernism ‘has failed?’ But what does she mean by such a statement? She discusses how art has always been classified by its schools and its styles, viewing it as a history of forms that derive from some kind of dialogue (which is for or against) the previous set of forms. But she suggests how these forms have been exhausted and the term ‘avant-garde’ is hard to come by in the present day. Overall, she is asking if modernism has actually accomplished anything (like the ‘sciences’) or has it just inspired our now “artificial, decaying environment of urban industrialisation”. However, I feel this supports me in saying modernism has actually influenced our contemporary graphic design by showing how this constant roll over of morals in society, and more specifically art, have been passed down and how it has acted as an influence to the next work after it. Some of these principles have been clearly considered and carried forth whilst some ejected, but for Gablik to question whether or not anything has been gained during the process is naive, especially in terms of Graphic Design.
Bibliography
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Gablik, S (2004) Has Modernism Failed?, London: Thames & Hudson
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