Bauhaus Design Principles
The Bauhaus was the single most influential modernist art school of the
20th century. Its approach to teaching, and to the relationship between
art, society, and technology, had a major impact both in Europe and the
United States long after its closure under Nazi pressure in 1933.
The Three Rules of the Bauhaus
The Bauhaus School rejected the purely “ornamental” role that they felt the visual arts had acquired.This meant stripping away the intricate and floral decorations of the late nineteenth century. In their place, the Bauhaus School required students to reflect and enhance an object’s function, without adding decorative elements for their own sake.
One of the great insights of the Bauhaus movement is to recognise that creative education is about more than passing on and refining technical knowledge or skills. By going back to the fundamentals of colour, form, and meaning in design, we connect with the basic elements of our craft, and free ourselves to be more inventive and to respond authentically to the design problem that we are called to solve.
Typography, while not initially a priority of the Bauhaus, became increasingly important under figures like Moholy-Nagy and the graphic designer Herbert Bayer (2001.392). At the Bauhaus, typography was conceived as both an empirical means of communication and an artistic expression, with visual clarity stressed above all.