Dadaism
An artistic and literary movement (1916-23) that developed following the First World War and sought to discover an authentic reality through the abolition of traditional culture and aesthetic forms. Dadaism brought new ideas, materials and directions, but with little uniformity. Its principles were of deliberate irrationality, anarchy and cynicism, and the rejection of laws of beauty. Dadaists lived in and for the moment. Pictured is the cover of the first edition of Dada, which was published in Zürich in 1917 and edited by Tristan Tzara.
1916
De Stijl
Dutch for 'the style', De Stijl was an art and design movement that developed around a magazine of the same name founded by Theo Van Doesburg. De Stijl used strong rectangular forms, employed primary colours and celebrated asymmetrical compositions. Pictured is a the Red and Blue Chair, which was designed by Gerrit Rietveld.
1918
Constructivism
A modern art movement originating in Moscow in 1920, which was characterised by the use of industrial methods to create non-representational, often geometric objects. Russian constructivism was influential to modernism through its use of black and red sans-serif typography arranged in asymmetrical blocks. Pictured is a model of the Tatlin Tower, a monument for the Communist International.
1919
Bauhaus
The Bauhaus opened in 1919 under the direction of renowned architect Walter Gropius. Until it was forced to close in 1933, the Bauhaus sought to initiate a fresh approach to design following the First World War, with a stylistic focus on functionality rather than adornment.
1925
Herbert Bayer
Austrian graphic designer Herbert Bayer embodied the modernist desire to reduce designs to as few elements as possible, an repeatedly experimented with typography to reduce the alphabet to a single case. He created Universal, a geometric sans serif font. Pictured is Bayer Universal, a font that has an even stroke weight with low contrast and geometric forms.
1928
Jan Tschichold
German typographer Jan Tschichold was a leading advocate of Modernist design as expressed through Die neue Typographie (the new typography), which was a manifesto of modern design that promoted sans-serif fonts and non-centred design, in addition to outlining usage guidelines for different weights and sizes of type. Pictured is Sabon, a font named after Jacques Sabon that typifies the Modernist approach pioneered by Tschichold.
1928-1930
Gill Sans
Typographer Eric Gill studied under Edward Johnston and refined his Underground font into Gill Sans. This was a sans-serif font with classical proportions and graceful geometric characteristics that lend it a great versatility.
1931
Harry Beck
Graphic designer Harry Beck (1903-1974) created the London Underground map in 1931. An abstract work that bears little relation to physical scale, the stations are relatively evenly spaced as Beck focused on the user-defined needs of how to get from one station to another and where to change, rather than accurate and proportional representation.
1950s
International Style
International or Swiss style was based in the revolutionary principles of the 1920s such as De Stijl, Bauhaus and Die neue Typographie, and it became firmly established in the 1950s. Grids, mathematical principles, minimal decoration and sans-serif typography became the norm as typography evolved to represent universal usefulness more than personal expression.
1951
Festival of Britain
A national exhibition in London and locations around Britain that opened in May 1951. The festival was intended as 'a tonic for the Nation' as Britain sought to lift itself from the ruins of the Second World War. The festival also marked the centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition.
1951
Helvetical
Created by Swiss designer Max Miedinger, Helvetica is one of the most famous and popular typefaces in the world. It has clean, no-nonsense shapes that are based on the Akzidenz-Grotesk font. Originally called Haas Grotesk, its name changed to Helvetica in 1960. The Helvetica family has 34 weights and the Neue Helvetica has 51.
1957
Vorm Gevers
Dutch graphic designer and typographer, Vorm Gevers is known for his posters and exhibition design for Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum. Gevers designed several fonts, including New Alphabet (1967), which was an abstract front based on a dot-matrix system so that it could be easily read by computers.
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