Looking at modern design in Germany

In the early 20th century, with the rapid development of industrial technology, new technologies and new equipment were continuously generated, which greatly promoted the development of productivity. However, the design concepts pursued throughout the world did not regard most of the general public as their service targets. However, it was only thought that design was a form of art that was superior to that of the past. At that time, both the "Arts and Crafts Movement" in the United Kingdom and the "New Art Movement" in Europe and the United States were positioned as elitism for the elite. The modern design that was later developed at the same time in Europe and the United States was a true design revolution. Through this campaign, the design became the first time to serve the public, and it was a major industrialization and mass production service. In this design revolution with a democratic nature, Germany, as one of the important birthplaces of modern design, has played an inestimable role in the development of the design of Germany and even the design of the world with its unique style and distinctive design features. effect.

German modern design features

introduction

Every design improvement in history has been accompanied by the improvement of design trends, just like revolution. In 1851, the “Expo of Nations” at Hyde Park in London brought to the people concerns and dissatisfaction with the decline in the aesthetic quality of mechanized products. The accompanying art and crafts movement allowed designers to calm down and ponder over how to make art and technology possible. In combination, but unfortunately, the movement essentially made it against the production characteristics of large machines in the era of industrialization. Therefore, it did not explore a new design idea and design method. Some later movements did not explore well. A method of design improvement. It was not until 1919 that the emergence of Bauhaus School of Design had brought about a fundamental change in this phenomenon. Artists were no longer simply artists, and industrialists gradually realized the importance of design for product development and production organization and management. . However, due to some design explorations of the Bauhaus Design School that were in conflict with the Nazi regime's "ethnic cleansing" plan, they were forcibly closed in 1933. However, the influence of Bauhaus Design School's exploration in this area on Germany and the world is incalculable. He first systematically explored a concept and a concrete method of how to combine technology and art in the era of industrialization. .

Bauhaus Design Institute

The Bauhaus School of Design was founded in 1919 in Weimar, Germany, a famous cultural city known to Germany and even to Europe. The Bauhaus School of Design is the first institute in the world to be completely established for the development of design education. Bauhaus has created a new milestone in the development of modern design education. After more than ten years of hard work, the Institute has become a European modernist design. The center pushed the European modernist design movement to an unprecedented height. Although the Academy was forced to close by the Nazi government on charges of unwarranted accusations in 1933, the education theory and teaching methods created by the founder of the college, Gropeth, influenced the design education throughout the world and made all designers aware of the design for the masses. Designing for industrialization is the true purpose of design.

Ulm School of Design

In 1953, the Ulm School of Design, the most important design school after the Second World War in Germany, was established in Ulm, Germany. Through the college’s rationalism education, a new generation of industrial designers and graphic designers was created. Architects and colleges improved the model of modern design education pioneered by Bauhaus Design School, and further put forward the principles of rational design and created a systematic design method. Jungen Mark, the general manager of Germany's Ecco Lighting Company, once said: “All designers today, including some who do not know where Ulm is, are influenced by the Ulm tradition in this and that respect. This is enough to prove that Ulm Design Institute's design exploration has an impact on world design.

In Germany, the most important household appliance company in Germany, Braun Company, implemented the design spirit of Ulm Design Institute in its product design, emphasizing the principle of ergonomics, and taking the principle of high rationality and order as its design criteria. Braun's Dieter Rams is a representative of this design spirit.

German functionalism design

German design has long emphasized the principle of functionalism in design, emphasized the democratic features in design, and repeatedly advocated the “principle of good styling” (ie, the theoretical essence and design criteria of the famous designers Museusius and the German manufacturing alliance). It is this kind of thinking that has caused several generations of German designers to attach great importance to their sense of responsibility. The principles of rationality, ergonomic principles, and functional principles in design are for them the purpose of designing justice. They will never give up because of commercial pressure. The overall characteristics of German product design are: rational, high-quality, reliable, functional, indifferent appearance and color of the machine (rather than using brighter colors, black and gray are the main colors).

At the same time, the United States, where commercialism is prevalent, is carrying out the "planned abolition system" design principle (a purely commercial design, with formalistic exaggeration as the main design feature, hoping to make the original design through continuous upgrading of products. Rapidly obsolete to promote commercial sales. Although this design style has been widely criticized for its neglect of safety performance and waste of resources, it is seen by consumers as having exaggerated shapes and vivid colors. The attractiveness of products for them is enormous.) Due to the machine characteristics of appearance and color, German product design has gradually lost its market competitiveness in the face of this strangely shaped industrial product. Therefore, there is also such a controversy in Germany: that is, whether it is a function or a form. under these circumstances. Some emerging design companies in Germany and some private small-scale design companies have begun to conduct design exploration under the principle of formalism. Frog Design is one of the representatives.

The frog company basically gave up the excessive rationality in the traditional design of Germany as well as the rigid functionalist principle in the design, gave full play to the power of formalism, and designed a variety of trendy industrial products. At present, there is still much controversy about this kind of anti-traditional design thinking of frog companies, but one thing is certain is that frog companies are commercially successful. With the acceleration of the commercialization process, some German companies began to adopt a compromise method to solve this contradiction: to design industrial products for European and domestic markets with German-style rationalism; on the other hand, to use internationalist and avant-garde technologies. The principle of business is to design industrial products for a wide range of international markets.

The functionalist and rationalist design style of Germany also influenced the field of graphic design. One of the founders of the Ulm School of Design, the German designer Otto Asch was very excited about the formation of such a rational style of graphic design in Germany. Big promotion. In the design theory, he advocated that the design should be based on the grid layout in order to achieve a high degree of rationality and functionality. He hopes that graphic design can enable readers to read graphic design text or graphics in the shortest possible time in order to obtain the highest accuracy and the lowest error rate. In 1972, Aish created all the symbols for the Munich Olympics. He designed his very rational set of logos with his own principles and achieved good functionality. As a result, his design theory and design style influenced the graphic design in Germany and around the world and became the basis of the new rationalism graphic design style.

Under the influence of this kind of thinking, the graphic design of Germany has the characteristics of being clear, simple, accurate, and highly rational, but it also has a tendency of boring and lack of individuality. Like its industrial design, although it is outstanding, it has no sense of humour and nothing. Cultural personality.

Conclusion

But there is no doubt that the German design has a very long tradition and is one of the sponsors of the modern design movement. The graphic design of Germany occupies an important position in the world's history of design with its unique style, and its industrial design is Rigorous styling, reliable quality, and highly rational aesthetic features embody the transformation of life in the era of industrialization and have been universally recognized by most consumers.