Design and Modernism

Modernism: The range of ideas and style that have sprung from modernity and the re-instigation of order and structure. Resonding to the qualities of the modern world.

Modernism in Design:

• Anti-historicism: disregards the past and always involves improving and modernising for the future. (Can reference 'Ornament is Crime lecture' by Adolf Loos 1908.)
• Truth to materials: Using new materials for design (concrete, tech.)
• Form follows function: Solving the problem first which will create a thing of beauty as a result.
• Internationalism: A universal visual language of design, for example IKEA.

If you try to make your work stylish or follow current trends, it will quickly go out of fashion. To make something timeless you give it pure functionality and strip it of everything else.

Skyscrapers are considered modernist as they optimize the small space of land they are given in order to build upwards. The glass is the best way to let the light into the sometimes shaded plot and it is only possible to construct because of modernist materials.

Seagram building.

Additionally for the Bauhaus concrete was considered a material of beauty and was a big contributor to the beginning of the modernist era. Harry Beck's London Underground Map is another example of modernism, as it is purely a thing of function, not realistically recording the distance between locations but helping direct you to them. It is all about communication and legibility. This is a from of internationalism as it can usually be understood by anyone and similar systems have been replicated across the world.

After the Russian revolution, the country hyper-modernised. The revolution needed to be communicated to everyone in the country; including the illiterate peasants who made up 50% of the country. This was the reason for Rodchenko to create the 'Books!' poster, which followed a modernist approach in its simple communication.

Books! by Rodchenko.

One of the main modernists of the time was El Lissizky who created a poster called Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919. The use of shape here is timeless and worked to signify the power of the revolution to everyone.

Beat the Whites the the Red Wedge, 1919. El Lissizky.

He was also famous for creating photograms which was a modernist approach to photography, without actually using a camera.

El Lissizky photogram of pliers.

Another result of the Russian revolution was the plan to make a monument to the Third International in 1919. This was to be 3x as big as the Eiffel tower and revolve at separate speeds on different levels. Although this was never made, the complexity and ambition the piece signified was incredible of the time and shows modernist initiative.

The Third International 1919

Stepanova and Popova were also key female constructivists in the Russian revolution and were behind some strong and dynamic pattern design that were a symbol of progression and empowerment.

Stepanova and Popova textile design.

Finally, it is important to consider that an entirely modernist city could potentially lack a feeling of humanity, for there is no history. Le Corbusier Plan Voisin was an utopian dream that all the buildings in Paris would appear the same. This was a early communistic drive that shows a overtly modernist approach. Although this would be practical it would have no culture or individuality, it would serve function before anything else. As humans we needed to be reminded of our roots and our potential constantly.

Le Corbusier Plan Voisin

Colour Theory Research

Joesph Albers

Joesph Albers entered the Bauhaus in 1920 aged 32, this was the beginning of his career in colour.

Homage to the square was his most signature series, encompassing over 1000 related works, which Albers began in 1949 and continued to develop until his death in 1976. He chose the square because it's a single, repeated geometric shape, which he theorised was devoid of symbolism. This meant he could systematically and freely experiment with colour relativity and the relationship different colours have with each other. Including juxtaposition, placement, attraction and resistance and finally movement. Different pallets can create different climates and a selection of just three colours combined can show individual moods and associations, different for every viewer. He worked passionately on a range of optical and psychological effects that colour can create, depending on their position and proximity with each other. In fact he even suggested that colour, rather than form, is the primary medium of pictorial language. Albers's 1963 book Interaction of Color provided the most all-encompassing analysis of the function and perception of colour to date. 

Johannes Itten

Johannes Itten developed strategies as a teacher in the Bauhaus 1919 to format strategies for successful colour combinations. He created seven methodologies for coordinating colours using hue's contrasting properties. These involved contrast in saturation, light and dark, extension, complements, hue, primaries, warm and cold. This were rules that can be used to create different types of form that will have bold and exciting appearances, without having to go through such a rigorous trial and error. He also developed the 12-hue colour circle, which outlines primary, secondary and tertiary colours showing the original colour and the different combinations it can make moving around it.

Some of the attributes for colour ranges include the changing of shade (adding black to the hue,) tint (adding the addition of white) and saturation (the hues purity as it neutralises to grey.) Despite the multitude of colours we have available to us, designers often use a very select few colours. Colour is often used very systematically in design, pallets are found through libraries of swatches. These are usually black, white and one or two other colours. This is to create a strong and bold foundation for communication. A design can be far more comprehensive with a limited pallet.

Graphic design is about the construction of form and composition. Part of this is the subjectivity of colour and how we can use it to reflect or distort reality. We only see colour when light bounces off objects or comes directly from a source and enters the eye. This is hard to comprehend as it feels as if colour should exist as we exist. When in darkness we are still as vibrant and complex as we are within light, whereas colour ceases to be.

Our use of colour is constantly shifting in our cultures and our history. It evolves alongside our perception of society, as a collective and as individuals expanding our own knowledge.

Colour Theory Lecture 1

Consumerism- Persuasion, Society, Brand and Culture

Sigmund Freud theorised the unconscious mind and how we maintain our pre-civilisation animalistic desires through our Ego and Id. He suggested they were completely incompatible within our civilised society and as a result we are constantly repressing our desires (which can be exploited consequently.) In fact, he suggested that if the unconscious is repressed too much there will be an eruption of violence.

Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, was a propagandist in WW1 and extrapolated Freud's theories in order to harness people's desires for the selling of ideas and products. He was one of the first people to work in public relations and more or less began the practice.

He created a campaign to sell cigarettes to women in the 20s, when it was originally considered extremely unladylike. On the Easter Day parade he hired actresses to dress glamorously and all ignite a cigarette in unison at the end of the parade. This was captured by the press and it was publicised as a suffragette protest in which they were "lighting torches of freedom." This was extremely successful as it tapped into women's desires and ideals.

Eventually Bernays began to work for politicians with his successful selling skill. Collidge was a presidential candidate who he created a campaign for involving a celebrity playing jazz in the advert. This was again about a certain ideal and an impression of what people aspire to be.

After this companies began giving products names that made them seem like they were from an individual, e.g. 'Hartley's Jam.' This was to create a unique, trustful, desirable identity in a saturated market and it worked well. They also pursued the idea of giving people the chance for 'creativity', for example, Aunt Jemima's pancake mix took the dried egg out of their packets so people would feel involved when they added their own egg. This meant that the product made far more sales, because people were fulfilling their desires for creativity.

In some cases our desire for new products is to change our own identity. Vance Packard wrote the Hidden Persuaders, which outlined the hidden marketing ideas that aline with unconscious desires. E.g. Emotional Security- Selling a freezer by suggesting that it will always allow you to provide for your family, Reassurance of Worth- Instinctually desirable to feel you have a place within a community. Creative Outlet was also one of these and Ego-gratification (allowing you to be who you want to be.)

Walter Lippmann suggested we can apply Bernay's ideas to society in order to control it and to prevent any eruptions that Freud predicted.
However, it became clear that in the '20s capitalism was escalating and circulating at a pace far to rapid, which would eventually lead to the Great Depression. At this stage, Roosevelt came to power, calling to workers that he would put constraints on businesses to regulate the system order and market. Yet, this was unappealing to big businesses who banded together to lobby Roosevelt out of power by creating a campaign for the 'World's Fair' which was a radical advert for consumerism. It presented the future world as a technical age full of products that would solve all your problems (the key to consumerism is to solve people's unconscious desires.) This was called the 'Democracity.'

Finally, after understanding the effect consumerism has on our unconscious, it becomes apparent that we may not be as free as we think.

What is Research?

Digital Culture