PowerPoint Presentation History of Industrial Design Lịch sử tạo dáng Dr Tran Tien Anh Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology (HCMUT) tienanh@hcmut edu vn Chapter 11 Modernism after World War II Fr[.]
History of Industrial Design Lịch sử tạo dáng Chapter 11 Modernism after World War II From Theory to Practice Dr Tran Tien Anh Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology (HCMUT) tienanh@hcmut.edu.vn Contents 1.The impact of shortages and rations on post World War II design activities 2.PROMOTING POSTWAR DESIGN: ART DIRECTION AND THE NEW ADVERTISING 3.GRAPHIC DESIGN AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION SCANDINAVIA AND BRITAIN 5.ITALY 6.GERMANY 7.THE INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHIC STYLE(DIE NEUE GRAFIK ) 8.M EA N S AN D E NDS 9.JAPAN 10.DESIGN AND CORPORATE CULTURE 11.TRADE MARKS AND BEYOND 06/11/2023 Dr Tran Tien Anh@HCMUT 1.The impact of shortages and rations on post World War II design activities • The end of World War II, especially in Britain, economic recovery, optimism, and consumer confidence were stimulated by the example of the United States and by the staging of national and international exhibitions such as the Milan Triennale and the Festival of Britain (1951), the latter commemorating the centennial of the Crystal Palace Exhibition • In 1947, Earl Tupper (1907-1983) began to market Tupperware (the company was founded in 1945), a line of flexible plastic storage and serving containers with self-sealing airtight lids to prevent spilling and preserve freshness (fig 11.1) Tupperware utilized smooth, simple, often stackable forms and standardized sizes that permitted interchangeability for lids • Tupper's commercial success dated to the 1950s, but was based upon his invention of a new pliable plastic called Poly-T in 1942, manufactured by DuPont and other chemical compan ies as part of the war effort This interest in harnessing wartime technologies and high-volume industrial production to improve domestic living through new, inexpensive, and practical products played a large role in shaping positive attitudes toward modern design in the decade following the end of World War II It also helps to explain the leading role assumed by large chemical corporations in promoting modern design, as it enabled them to sustain, if not increase, production during peacetime Chemical and pharmaceutical companies employed graphic designers who helped to explain and promote scientific concepts and their useful applications in visual terms to the public and to the business community through popular and professional magazines and journals • A series of Bubble hanging lamps were designed by George Nelson Associates beginning in 1952 and manufactured by the Michigan-based Howard Miller Clock Company The lamps were constructed from steel wire attached to rings (rather than welded) and sprayed with a plastic to create translucent shells in a variety ofrounded shapes (fig 11.2) • Dreyfuss published his The Measure of Man: Human Factors in Design in 1960 (fig 1r.3), a manual of detailed drawings in which measurement forms the basis of design decisions Using a series of average body sizes for men and for women that took into account differences, The Measure of Man used observation and measurement to determine heights of tables, distances between operators and machines or appliances, and the form and placement of knobs and controls on devices for ease-of-use, safety, and the reduction of error • From the early 1940s, the new model did not appear until 1953- Adapting the tnermostat mechanisms to a round housing necessitated significant invention, credited to the company engineer Carl Kronmiller (1889-1968), who developed a spring coil to replace the conventional glassenclosed mercury-filled thermometer that was difficult to manufacture in a curved form While the costs of development were considerable, the final manufactured product was less expensive than earlier models Dreyfuss liked the idea of the round control from the standpoint of mounting, that is, rectangular models almost always looked crooked when mounted on the wall A further refinement that Dreyfuss developed was a concentric metal plate that fitted easily around the clear plastic readout and control He was also responsible for suggesting that the concentric plate be manufactured in a variety of colors to match the wall Dreyfuss's name was frequently mentioned in advertising campaigns, but the development process of this product began before he was hired and required considerable collaborative effort Inexpensive, easy to operate, inconspicuous, and attractive in its simple and concentric forms, the Honeywell Round demonstrated the advantages of postwar industrial design, and companies often promoted the integral and creative role of the industrial designer as a marketing tactic • Unlike earlier plywoodmolding techniques used, for instance, by Alvar Aalto, theEameses' approach to molding was three-dimensional -what design historian Peter Dormer has called "vessel andvalley" forms as a reference to their more organic,sculptural character.***In 1946, the Eameses designed a molded plywoodchair with separate seat and back supported by a thin ,welded tubular steel frame and mounted with rubbershocks, eventually manufactured by Herman Miller (fig.11.5) The couple continued to experiment with moldedplywood and fiberglass for furniture in the later 1940s,and their unupholstered dining armchair of 1950, a singlepiece combining armrests, seat, and back, also mountedon a tubular metal frame, won another internationalcompetition sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art for"Low-Cost Furniture." In 1954, an armless, stackingversion of the fiberglass chair was introduced by Miller,and became immensely successful for seating in schoolsand other institutions by virtue of its light weight andability to be easily stored and moved • Mechanized production and industrial technology were not only the agents of improved efficiency but also of an emerging aesthetic ofbiomorphic sculptural forms The Eameses, for instance, explored the organicism of molded plywood in his well-known lounge chair and footstool, designed for Herman Miller beginning in 1956 (fig 11.6) This chair was constructed of three separate pieces of molded plywood, upholstered in leather, and supported by a five-legged metal pedestal base The Eameses' lounge chair relates to individual comfort, abstract sculptural form, and expense beyond the earlier "low-cost" furniture, indicating motivations extending beyond efficiency In addition to a continuous supply of new designs with advantages to the consumer in terms of comfort, lightness, efficiency, or beauty, marketing strategies focused upon the individual designer, who lent uniqueness to serially manufactured goods Herman Miller, for instance, manufactured abstract sculptural designs by Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), such as his glass table (fig 11.7), which is supported by an ebonized wood base consisting of two irregular forms, suggestive of Automatic Surrealism Although elements of the egalitarian social ideology of the first machine age remained after World War II, it was the transformation of that ideology that often best exemplifies postwar modernism, especially in the 1950s This transformation produced a benevolent "marriage of commerce and culture," in which an elevated taste merged with increasing production and economic prosperity • Another development of postwar modem design infurniture manufacturing was modularity, seen for instin storage and shelving, which had appeared earlier inEliot Noyes's vision of"organic design" for the Museum olModem Art exhibition of1940-1941 (see page 249) EeroSaarinen and Charles Eames designed a series of modula1units for domestic interiors for the Red Lion Company inPennsylvania, which were constructed of plywood withdowel-like legs and sliding doors for cabinets The Eames! >small shelving units, known as the ESU system, designedfor Miller (fig 11.9), used light steel bracing for strengthand support, as well as rectangular molded plywoodsliding doors with embossed circular des • The refinement of the Eameses' lounge chair and subsequent office chair designs in cast aluminum was also incorporated into furniture designs manufactured by German emigre Hans Knoll, who established Knoll Associates in 1943 Knoll's wife and partner, Florence Schust Knoll (b 1917), studied at the Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and did much to establish the company's association with modern design after World War II Knoll manufactured the furniture prototypes ofarchitect and former director ofthe Bauhaus, Mies van der Rohe (see page 204), for instance, his steel and upholstered leather Barcelona chair designed for the German Pavilion at the 1929 international exhibition held in Spain The company also produced designs by Cranbrook faculty and students such as the Italian-born sculptor Harry Bertoia (1915-1978) Bertoia's Diamond chair made of spot-welded steel (fig II.II) was manufactured by Knoll from 1952 and features the molded "vessel and valley" forms also seen in plywood and plastic designs for chairs by Saarinen and Eames (see page 263) Bertoia had worked with Eames on molded plywood designs in California The chair's form approximates an abstract approach to the wingspan of a bird in flight, enhanced through the open and elastic weblike treatment of the welded steel wires • A more restrained sculptural aesthetic is seen in the interior design of passenger airplanes, in particular Walter Teague's design for the Boeing 707 aircraft of 1955-1956 (fig n.12) Like Henry Dreyfuss, Teague established his reputation as a consultant industrial designer in the interwar period and was committed to a consideration of human factors and an understanding of manufacturing processes in products such as the 1936 Kodak Bantam camera (see fig 10.23) Teague's airline interior demonstrates a preference for recessed indirect lighting and curving molded plastic surfaces without projections or intrusive patterned decoration; such features respectedA more restrained sculptural aesthetic is seen in the interior design of passenger airplanes, in particular Walter Teague's design for the Boeing 707 aircraft of 1955-1956 (fig n.12) Like Henry Dreyfuss, Teague established his reputation as a consultant industrial designer in the interwar period and was committed to a consideration of human factors and an understanding of manufacturing processes in products such as the 1936 Kodak Bantam camera (see fig 10.23) Teague's airline interior demonstrates a preference for recessed indirect lighting and curving molded plastic surfaces without projections or intrusive patterned decoration; such features respecte concerns for safety and had a calming psychological effect, tested through the construction of a full-scale interim model to study and measure passenger reaction prior to manufacturing Teague remained a vigorous spokesma, for research and a range of determinants in design that moved beyond functional aesthetics toward observing and respecting the experience of users Such an approach was articulated in books and in articles published in the journal Industrial Design; in a broad sense it reflects a designer's role in mediating between products and users of considering options and making decisions that affect our relationship to complex technologies