- Herbert Bayer, Walter Gropius, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy,
and Wassily Kandinsky shaped and promoted
the philosophy of functional design
not only in typography and print-making
but also across other disciplines
from architecture to ceramics.
The concept of function in graphic design today
is unquestioned.
Post modern concepts aside,
of course the typography and image should guide
the viewer, provide information
and communicate a message.
It should be clear and legible,
free of distractions
and irrelevant elements.
This was a revolutionary idea established
at the Bauhaus.
Using the same modernist philosophy
applied to architecture, product design
and furniture, graphic design broke from the
decorative forms of the 19th century.
Now graphic design and typography's role
was to relay information as efficiently as possible.
Maximum negative space and clear hierarchy assisted
the viewer.
Sans serif typefaces such as Futura, based entirely
on geometric forms rejected the degenerate typefaces
of the pre-World War I political structure.
Asymmetry rather than symmetrical layouts
created a dynamic rather than static solution.
Mathematical proportions were adopted.
Again, this was a reaction to the seemingly arbitrary
choices made simply with intuition rather than logic.
The golden rectangle was favored
due to its mathematical perfection and harmony.
Bayer incorporated it into the grid structure
of his work.
Typographic proportions also followed
a strict mathematical structure.
There was no such as a 17.65 point typeface.
A layout would use mathematically compatible sizes
such as eight point, 16 point and 32 point.
Bayer influenced by Moholy-Nagy,
incorporated photography as a machine-produced form.
He explored photographic collage
and typography as a tool.
In 1928, Bayer left the Bauhaus
moving to Berlin to art direct
the German edition of Vogue Magazine
and set up his own studio with other clients.
In 1936, he designed a brochure for the
Deutschland Ausstellung, an exhibition
for tourists during the 1936 Olympic games.
This proved to be a project that would haunt Bayer
for the rest of his life.
The brochure celebrated life in the Third Reich
and the authority of Hitler.
However in 1937,
Bayer's work was included in the Nazi propaganda exhibition
degenerate art.
Soon after, he was forced to flee Germany,
eventually becoming a United States citizen
and then settling in Aspen, Colorado.
After visiting the Bauhaus in 1923,
Jan Tschichold adopted the same philosophy
and helped extend its influence to an international audience
with his book Die Neue Typographie.
In 1933,
the Nazis barged into Jan Tschichold's Munich apartment
and arrested him and his wife.
He was accused of creating Bolshevik and un-German work.
After six weeks, he was released
and fled with his wife and four year old son
to Switzerland.
After the war,
Tschichold moved to London
and rejected the new typography.
In 1946 he wrote that the new typography's impatient
attitude conforms to the German bent for
the absolute and its military rule to regulate.
With the closing of the Bauhaus and emigration of many
of its masters and students to the United States
and other parts of Europe,
the Bauhaus philosophy of design entered
into the mainstream of popular culture.