Assignment 4

The genesis of twentieth century design was a period in which the view of art and design made its initial jump towards modern design. In the beginning of the twentieth century the Glasgow School introduced the first innovative geometric style. “The Four” artists innovated the geometric style with the curves and floral work of the Art Nouveau movement. In many of the posters they made they depicted the human form in abstract ways, this was the first time the human form was presented in any abstract form and it raised much controversy in the public eye and among other artists. “The Fours” eye for design and this bold move in abstract human shape paved the way for the transition into the twentieth century. During this time there was a clash between tradition and new idea emanating all over Europe. Geometric shapes began to appear among organic designs; the Vienna Secession rejected the historic floral style and turned toward flat shapes and simplicity. Function, honesty to materials and harmony in proportions became of key importance in design. The biggest influence in this transitional design was Peter Behrens, who pushed the acceptance of sans-serif typography and the use of grid systems in design layouts. These two elements are what made the biggest visual impact on design moving toward the twentieth century modern art. Behrens applied the grid to posters, products and even buildings while he was working with AEG; its use allowed for better proportion, negative space, and simplicity in their designs. By the time the nineteenth century art style had ended and the twentieth century style began design had made a leap from romanticism/ historicism to the modernism we see today. The most evident example of this is the London Underground logo that was created in 1918 by Edward Johnston (demonstrating the simplicity, form and sans-serif type of the new art age) and still remains the iconic logo today almost a century later.