History of Graphic Design March 16th

De Stijl begins this week, bringing laws of equilibrium and harmony. The most straightforward horizontal and verticals all the break down of art, divorcing the art of the De Stijl movement from the natural world. Mondrian, Rietveld, and Oud exemplify De Stijl, producing art free of representation, based solely on form. Architecture and furniture exist merely as the meeting planes in space, pure form.

Swiftly, we move in to Bauhaus, the focus of the evenings discussion, and the school that breaks artists free of the master/apprentice constrictions, producing the first of many schools of art and design to come. It was an Intensely visionary period - possibility for a universal design that integrated aspects of society. They produced works, declaring the distinctions between fine arts and applied arts to be nonexistent. Their furniture and products showed form following function, invoking ideas of the Arts and Crafts movement. True art pieces that united aesthetics with the use of their products.

Jan Tschichold establishes the New Typography, as he calls it. He is unique in the history of design. He brings 20th Century typographic expression based on Bauhaus theories to the public. He manages to bring the ideas and ideals together and articulate them. He goes so far to declare san serif as the Modernist typeface. Further unique, he turns on his rules and dictums, saying that they are limited in use and not nearly as universal as he once proposed.