Looking at the world's design history

World Design in the First and Twentieth Century

Since the end of the 1871 Franco-Prussian War and the outbreak of the First World War in 1911, there has been almost 40 years of peace in Europe. The people live in romance and fantasy. At that time, designs were more or less retro in color, such as The arts and crafts movement and the Art Nouveau movement are trying to prevent the emergence of industrialization. In World War I, the fears and misgivings that were generated by people replaced the fear of the future and formed a special point of view: If machinery is out of control, it will kill people themselves. This is the first time that humans have judged the negative results of large-scale industrialization. At that time, Europe was in a very unstable state. Social democratic thoughts began to move into the minds of a group of sober designers. They tried to improve the society from architectural design and put forward the idea that “design is for the public”. These people became the core of modern design. The German design stance is influenced by social engineering and social work positions. It emphasizes how design can create better conditions for the German nation. Walter Gropius, the famous Bauhaus's first principal and former architect, once said: "My design is to allow every family of German citizens to enjoy 6 hours of sunshine." From this we can see that what they are doing is "social engineering activities", that is, engineering reforms in society. The "Less is more" modern design is not the result of formal considerations, but the result of solving problems and meeting the basic needs of the general public. It is due to social democratic thoughts and the purpose is to create. Cheap, mass-produced products.

After World War II, in order to pursue Bauhaus's idealism, Germany established the Hochschule Gestaltung at Ulm and reiterated the idea of ​​combining art and science. The college’s biggest dedication is system design and design institutions linked to companies. It can be said that since the beginning of modern design in Germany. For the first time, it is possible to express the ideal functionalism in industrial production. Ulm's education system played a guiding role in post-war design education, created a model, and laid the foundation.

Because German designers are more concerned with the physical relationship between design and humans (such as the rationality of size, modulus, etc.), the German design is calm, highly rational, and even inhuman, resulting in sometimes lack of Design and human psychology considerations. The modern design of Northern Europe pays so much attention to this relationship. Its geographical location is the determining factor. Scandinavian countries have a high latitude. The sunshine duration in winter is only two or three hours. People spend more time in indoor activities, which makes the relationship between people and indoor furnishings extremely close. This requires that design must pay attention to people's psychological feelings. The architects such as Alvar Aalto and others proposed to take the rationalist path of the Germans instead of the simple geometric shape of the Germans. Their designs use certain organic forms (such as bending lines) and original materials (such as wood), which are called "organic functionalism." The design of southern Europe is most prominent in Italy. The Italians view design as a culture, not simply as a tool for making money, so small batches and high grades have become the advantages of Italian design, which is reflected in those unique designs of furniture, cars, shoes and so on.

The U.S. design system and the European design system are clearly divided. The European design starts with the idea and then has a clear design goal. The United States concluded the design only after it was concluded. It is completely different from the European design with a social democracy. The design of the United States originated from commerce, and was based on the absence of social ideology. It once followed the market. Although the United States lacks social speculation, it is an economic animal with a strong focus on practicality and strength. It has entrenched and accommodating various positive factors with its strong economic strength, and has quickly gained a leading position in its design. After the closure of Bauhaus in 1933, more than 50 people including Gropez, Hannes Meyers, Mies Vander Rohe emigrated to the United States and had a positive impact. . Their arrival has led to the design of ethics, ideology, and teaching systems in American design that had no theoretical basis in the past. All these have laid the ground for the leap of the American design. In the social environment of the United States, where the middle class dominates, Bauhaus advocated the notion of designing for the masses. However, the vast land and strong economic support provided by the United States once again ignited the enthusiasm of the architects. As one building rises and the internationalist style is born, it is the product of the combination of the American business trend and the German concept. This style has gradually spread all over the world and has had a wide range of influence.

Nordic people think that design is an integral part of their lives, Americans use it as a tool for making money, and Japanese people think that design is a means of survival for the nation. As Japan is an island country and its natural resources are relatively poor, exports of electrical appliances have become its important economic source. At this time, the pros and cons of the design are directly related to the economic lifeline of the country, so that the design of Japan has attracted the attention of the government. The design of Japan started in the 1950s and has made its design very powerful with its unique national character. The Japanese are the best students in the world. They can learn a wide range of useful knowledge abroad and integrate them, eventually becoming their own. At the same time, the Japanese nation’s group spirit is very strong, making it easier for the internal forces of the company to concentrate completely. There are two factors in Japan’s tradition that make its design detours: one is a minimal and refined minimalist style, and the other is that in life they form a modular system based on tatami, which makes them quickly accepted The modular concept introduced from Germany. The narrow space makes the Japanese people love the miniaturization, standardization, and multi-functional products. This precisely meets the needs of the international market, leading to the emergence of Japan’s electrical products to guide the world trend and sweep the world market.

Second, the status of world design

As the time was pushed to the 1990s, the design faced a new situation. Prior to this, the boundaries of various industries were relatively clear and the division of labor was clear. After entering the 1990s, the boundaries between industries were blurred. The biggest stimuli for this phenomenon are that designers encounter problems that cannot be rigidly segmented by product category. When designing, they must pay attention to the relationship between the design object and other products, and must consider the problem from the design scope of the design object. If the design of the cup is not based solely on ergonomics or on the basis of beautiful styling, it must be considered on what occasion it is used and the cup should be adapted to the surrounding environment. The range of designs that designers consider increases. There has been a problem of blurring the edges of the classification of species, and various disciplines have also become compatible with each other, that is, the intersection of disciplines. This is an important trend in modern design.

For design, another strong impact comes from the computer. Since most of the earliest design institutions were established on the basis of art schools, design education was derived from fine art education, so that design education was mainly centered on technical training. The students spent a great deal of time on techniques, which was undoubted under the prevailing conditions, because design drawings at that time could only be represented by hand. This situation continued until the 70s, or even later. In the 1980s, the popularity of personal computers brought unimaginable impact to the design. Original effect paintings drawn with a brush or other special techniques, now only need to use a computer with a good hardware configuration and AutoCad, photoshop, 3D Studio and other excellent graphics software to match, you can make the drawing time spent by half Above, and the pattern is beautiful and accurate. Computers have drastically reduced the number of technical exercises that have occupied 4/5 hours of teaching time to at least I/1O, giving students more time to consider the details of design, which is a revolutionary impact on design and its education system. The intersection of disciplines and the impact of computers are positive factors for today's design. They will promote the development of design to the better side in front of a new era. Of course, there are also problems with modern design.

The first is the rigid face of internationalism. Internationalist style products can be mass-produced, and inexpensive, suitable for the needs of the general public. In the design process alone, it sacrificed nationality, locality, and individuality, and pursued commonality. Now is the transition from industrialization to informationization. From the perspective of long-term interests, products must have individuality to secure a place in fierce market competition. In the design, starting from the actual conditions of the country and region, combining national aesthetic sentiments with some of the shocks of modern design to form a unique design system is a development trend of the design. In this regard, the Japanese have done some useful explorations. For example, they have exaggerated the hoops on the outside of the cask so that it is both a functional component and a decorative component. This is called "decorative use of structural components." The relationship between the shape and personality of wooden and rattan furniture in Northern Europe has become a thorny issue for designers in all countries.

The second is the negative impact of post-modernist handicrafts on modern design. Postmodernism emerged from architectural design, starting with Bobert Venturi's design of “Wentulli Houses” and used by postmodern architects. Classical historical symbols were broken and then regrouped in an attempt to change the face of modernist stereotypes. The words of Charles and Jenks may enable us to better understand the concept of "postmodernism". He said: "Postmodernism is what modernism adds a little something else (decorative factors)." Postmodernism has a negative impact. The root cause lies in its attitude of ridicule. In fact, it uses classical symbols in a ridiculous manner. Moderation can only achieve good results, but too much ridicule will hurt many highly educated middle-class people who have a deep understanding of classicalism. They are the biggest buyers. . In addition, because many people do not understand the true meaning of post-modernism, "post-modernism" has become a low-level designer's evasive remarks, and all those who fail to understand are called "postmodernism" hats. It's ridiculous to look at buildings that are part of what is called "post-modernism." Although the popularity of postmodernism is not long, the negative impact on serious modern design is incalculable.