A-level Graphic Products/Edexcel/Unit 3 :Designing for the Future/Design in context/Influences of design history on developments of products

Arts and Crafts (1850-1900)
Key points:
 * Items need to be fit for purpose (function is important)
 * Arts and Craft designers were against industrialisation.

Style:
 * Simplicity.
 * Made from natural materials, based around nature.
 * Colour and texture. Colour added 'unity' and 'focus.' Only natural textures were used: wood, stone, wool, linen etc.
 * Splendour - They experimented with different materials and techniques, this led to unusual designs.

William Morris (1834-1896)
Key points:
 * He was a poet, writer, designer, innovator in the arts and crafts movement and a socialist
 * He help found Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
 * He worked with stained glass, carving, furniture, wallpaper, carpets and tapestries
 * He had strong socialist viewed which got him arrested once; these view influenced what he created.

Art Nouveau (1890-1905)
Key points:
 * Started in France, Paris
 * A form of bridge between Arts and Craft and Modernism; old styles and values sat alongside new ones.
 * The Languid line
 * New aesthetic views for a new urban lifestyle.
 * They were for mass-production
 * Used in architecture, glass, jewellery, fabrics and wallpaper

Style:
 * Curvy lines and flowers
 * Hand-crafted
 * Use of glass and wrought iron
 * Feminine form
 * Influences by other cultures - Japanese, Celtic, Arabian, ancient Greek.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928)
Key points:
 * He was British, born is Glasgow
 * He was an architect and he studied at Glasgow School of Art
 * He mixed Art Nouveau with Scottish Architecture

Modernism (1900-1930)
Key points:
 * Celebrated technology and the mechanised industry.
 * Different variation appeared around Europe: Bauhaus in Germany, De Stijl in the Netherlands, Constructivism in Russia and Futurism in Italy.
 * Liked mass-production

Style:
 * Less is more
 * Machine Aesthetic
 * Rejected the old natural style/aesthetic.

Bauhaus Modernism (1919-1933)
Note: All notes on Bauhaus are inherit all notes from Modernism.

Key points:
 * Created in Germany, just before WW2, after WW1
 * Bauhaus means "House for building."
 * Things need to be functional, highest priority
 * Reduction in decorative frills.

Style:
 * Form follow Function
 * Geometrically pure, straight lines

Marcel Breuer (1902-1981)
Key points:
 * He liked the combination of art and technology.
 * He's famously known for his 'Wassily' chair.
 * The 'Wassily' chair was only possible because a German manufacturer had just recently perfected the art of mass-produced bending of metal tubes.
 * He then immigrated to the USA where he obtained a professorship in School of Design at Harvard

Art Deco (1925-1939)
Key points:
 * Popular modernism
 * It's a reaction to post-war (WW1)
 * In favour of a mechanical modern world.

Style:
 * Symmetry and repetition
 * Zig-zagged geometric patterns
 * Inspired by ancient Egypt.
 * Sharp-edges
 * Bright Colours
 * Use of expensive materials

Eileen Gray (1879-1976)
Key Points:
 * Went to Slade school of Fine arts in London.
 * Like Japanese/French art styles at the time.
 * She started with art, then moved onto architecture.
 * Inspired by Marcel Breuer.

Streamlining (1935-1955)
Key Points:
 * Consumerism and Style
 * New prosperity and widened consumer choice
 * Celebrating speed and efficiency
 * People at the time were hyped about the future, air travel and space exploration.

Style:
 * Aerodynamics
 * Tear-drop shape
 * Futuristic style

Raymond Loewy (1893-1986)

 * Born in France, spent most of his time in the USA.
 * Influenced by the American life-style.
 * He likes "Beauty through Simplification."
 * His work mixed Art Deco with Streamlining
 * He worked with a lot of multinational companies like NASA where he was later employed at.
 * He spent time streamlining many items
 * Streamlining allowed for greater speed and less drag.

Post-Modernism - New Design Style (1975-Present)
We currently live in a post-modernism world, this means that anything you see that's not based upon a past movement, or from another culture is post-modernism. Key points:
 * Opposes Modernism
 * They think 'More is more' rather than the Modernism 'Less is more', they think 'Less is bore!'

Style:
 * Humour and personality
 * Retro Design
 * Deconstruction

Philippe Starck (1949-Present)
Key points:
 * He's a French designer
 * He's all for mass-production, he had chair and toothbrushes mass-produced
 * He's even produced a mouse for Microsoft