Nationalism and Globalism in Design

• Nazi Germany Design
• Collected signature artworks from around the country that represented the “degeneracy” of German culture. Exhibition was called “Entartete Kunst”
• “Coordination” – ideology of totalitarianism ~ everything keyed to the ideological objectives of the state. What design language do you use?
• Volkswagen – the people’s car. 1936 Porsche develops the beetle – not put into production until after war
• Table Radio created by Kirsting. Device assisted in the proliferation/reinforcement of Nazi ideals. Messages from the Fuhrer.
• 1936 – World’s Fair in Paris – Russian pavilion. Massive monolithic pavilion with statue of man/woman with hammer and sickle in hand
• Right across from the Russian pavilion – the German Pavilion – design by Albert Speer. Massive tower of classical architecture
• Albert Speer, began working with Hitler in is early 30’s – his title was Inspector General of Buildings for the Renovation of the State Capital, in the Office of the Beauty of Labour
• Speer first developed plan for the complete re-building of greater Berlin. Build a new capital for an empire that will last for a thousand years. A very theatrical design based on the spectacular. Planned a Pantheon-like building with a 220 foot domed building to accommodate 100,000 people for rallies.
• Speer: “My buildings were not solely intended to express the essence of the National Socialist movement. They were an integral part of that movement.”
• Built review stand for the parade ground at Nuremberg
• Walter Benjamin – Nazis achieved complete aesthetic composition of a nationalist state
• Nuremberg rallies and the staging of a spectacular events. The audience is overwhelmed by a sense of becoming part of something greater
• At night, anti-aircraft guns were angled upward creating a cathedral of light.
• Stephen Heller’s book – Swastika – Symbol Beyond Redemption

In the United States, the CIA and Information Design
Visual Presentation Branch of the OSS

• Raymond Leowy – developed information visualizations (ex. space-time diagrams)
• Dreyfuss and Associates designed the White House War Room – it was never built
• Designed the courts for the Nuremberg trials and built visuals to assist with trials and display evidence, etc…
• OSS group also designed all materials for the first United Nations meetings (in San Francisco), with particular attention to neutrality. McLauglin designed the UN symbol – made it power blue because it was a color that was not used on any national flags in 1945.

HfG ULM
A Design School started after the war.

• The goal was democratic re-education through design
• The intention was to engage the population at the most fundamental levels. The goal was to rebuild the German civilization from new foundations
• 4 departments: Product Form, Information Design, Industrial Building, Visual Communication
• An all-star designer faculty, and many distinguished guests visited
• Max Bild(?) – first director of the school
• Feeling: need to go back to basics. Developed a science of design. Revisit geometry, grid theory, group theory, apart from mathematical studies, they also included many cultural studies: anthropology, semiotics, psychology, etc… (mobilize the spirit of the culture)
• Pursuit of a precision of understanding of what a thing “is about”
• Many experiments – collapsible modular office set. (M125 furnishing system) ship furniture is flat boxes to be assembled on-site, ala IKEA
• Lindenger – modular home entertainment system, 1962 – based on work done from Braun
• Max Braun – hired Peter Eichler as head of design, handed off to Dieter Rams – defined a hi-fi audio system. It is not apiece of furniture. It possesses an instrumental, technological character
• Dieter Rams article “Omit the Unimportant”
• Other Braun products:  shaver, clock, coffee maker, calculator The non-aesthetic becomes the aesthetic. Black and White color only
• While West Germany is re-establishing its cultural  relevancy  in the world through design, products/design were stagnant is East Germany
• Durant automobile from East Germany – 2-cylinder, 25HP, Duroplast body (far outlasts the car’s engine).
• Design flourishes in a market-driven environment (requires market competition). Graphic design seems to require an advertising industry.