Chapter 12: The Genesis of Twentieth Century Design

With the twentieth century came great things, one of them being the category of typeface design known as modern style.  Artists and designers began to experiment with new styles and expressions for all aspects of design.  In Austria and Germany, abstract drawing took hold and replaced the organic drawing of Art Nouveau.  A very influential man during this time period was Frank Lloyd Wright.  Later in his practices, he moved toward 'the reality of the building' within the inside areas that people lived.  He saw space as the essence of design and was influenced by Japanese architecture and design.  At an art school in Scotland, four architectural students began working together, eventually receiving the name "The Four".  A romantic connection was made which evolved in two beautiful marriages.... lame.  Their work can be classified as symbolic, simple lines, flat panes, bold and sometimes flowing curves with rectangular structures.  Back in Vienna, paintings began to turn into a French-inspired floral style and this city eventually became the center of creative innovation in the final blossoming of art nouveau.  A magazine was published there, Sacred Spring, that was described more as a design laboratory than a magazine.  This design laboratory consisted of clever use of white space, sleek stock, color, bold line drawings and hand lettering.  This book really influenced and pushed the Vienna Secession.  I'm going to list one more man who played a huge role in the twentieth century; the German artist Peter Behrens.  He 'sought typographic reform, was an advocate of sans-serif typography, and used a grid system to structure space in his design layouts (233)'.  He is also very popular for being the first artist to design industrial objects such as street lamps, teapots, fans and electric motors.  His love of sans-serifs led him to design four weights, three expanded and three condensed versions,... not to mention his several typeface designs.  

When I read through Megg's book, I often get mad because some of the design concepts and objects for design seem so obvious but are often designed very late in history.  To me it just makes sense,... when something new is created (light bulb) isn't the next step to immediately design an attractive lamp?  The same goes with teakettles.  How long have we been using teakettles?  And it took this long to make them pretty.  Maybe it's too obvious for me because everything is stylized and designed today, but it makes me wonder if I am completely oblivious to something that should be designed/redesigned....and it's staring me right in the face.  Like the redesign of medicine bottles, it seems so obvious now, but I don't think I would have thought of it if she didn't.  It kinda pisses me off sometimes.