TwosWrite things down

Design as Art by Bruno Munari

Design as Art by Bruno Munari

by Parker · 40 things on Twos

The artists of today are busily looking for something that will once again interest the people of today, distracted as they are by a multitude of visual stimuli all clamoring for attention
If the aim is to mass-produce objects for sale to a wide public at low price, then it becomes a problem of method and design
The artist has to regain the modesty he had when art was just a trade, and instead of despising the very public he is trying to interest he must discover its needs and make contact with it again
Machines would not exist without us, but our existence would no longer be possible without them
As long as art stands aside from the problems of life it will only interest a very few people
The artist must cast off the last rags of romanticism and become active as a man among men, we’ll up in present-day techniques, materials, and working methods
Without losing his innate aesthetic sense he must be able to respond with humility and competence to the demands his neighbors may make of him
It is up to us designers to make known our working methods in clear and simple terms, the methods we think are the truest, most up-to-date, the most likely to resolve our common aesthetic problems
Anyone who uses a properly designed object feels the presence of an artist who has worked for him, bettering his living conditions and encouraging him to develop his taste and sense of beauty
Art is always present when a people lives sincerely and healthily
A designer is a planner with an aesthetic sense
The better designed it is, the better it will sell
A designer tried to make an object as naturally as a tree puts forth a leaf. He does not smother his object Seth his own personal taste but tries to be objective
The designer is the artist of today, not because he is a genius but because he works in such a way as to reestablish contact between art and the public, because he has the humility and ability to respond to whatever demand is made of him by the society in which he lives, because he knows his job, and the ways and means of solving each problem of design, and responds to the human needs of his time
The form follows the function
Design is planning as objectively as possible of everything that goes to make up the surroundings and atmosphere in which men live today. It is planning done without preconceived notions of style, attempting only to give each thing its logical structure and proper material, and in consequence it’s logical form
An object should be judged by whether it had a form consistent with its use, whether the material fits the construction and the production costs, whether the individual parts are logically fitted together. It is therefore a question of coherence
If the form of an object turns out to be ‘beautiful’ it will be thanks to the logic of its construction to the precision of the solutions found for its various components. It is ‘beautiful’ because it is just right
A thing is not beautiful because it is beautiful, it is beautiful because one likes it
To get a message across we can use not only words, but in many cases also images, forms and clues, symbols, signs, and signals
If a visual message is going to get across to people of different languages and backgrounds it is essential that the message does not lend itself to wrong interpretations
A poem only communicates if read slowly: only then does it have time to create a state of mind in which the images can form and be transformed
Lettering and spacing must be calculated according to the effect required
For rapid reading the type must be simple and clear, the spaces between letters and words exactly calculated, the space around each word sufficient to isolate it completely from its surroundings; while the letters and background must not be done in complementary colours
It depends on the person doing the looking, because each of us sees only what he knows
Any knowledge of the world we live in is useful, and enables us to understand things that previously we did not know existed
Nature creates her forms according to a particular material, function, environment, and set of needs
A thing made with precision is also beautiful, and the study of natural and spontaneous forms is of the highest importance to the designer, whose habit it is to use materials according to their nature and their technical characteristics
From the moment he sets about a job a good designer must bear in mind that an object that takes up quite a lot of room when in working order must not be bulky for storage or delivery. By saving on storage and delivery costs he is cutting the eventual sales price of the product
Subtract rather than add. Get to the essence of the object by eliminating anything superfluous until no further simplification is possible
By designing without any stylistic or formal preconceived notions, and tending towards the natural formation of things, one gets the essence of a product This means using the most appropriate materials of correct thickness, reducing working hours to a minimum, combining a number of functions in one element, making all attachments simple, using as few different materials as possible for each single object, trying to abolish the need for finishing off in detail, doing any necessary lettering during the original pressing, and bearing in mind that the object should take up as little storage space as possible and should assemble itself automatically when ready for use
One should use the force of gravity for automatic assembly. A hanging object costs less than one standing up
In general, greater variety helps sales as long as the characteristics of the product remain unaltered
A laugh is an external sign of inner balance, while a gloomy face is the sign of gloom in the spirit
If the person living in a house is a gentleman the house will match him: it will be modest, quiet, hospitable, and will have all the necessary comforts without falling over backwards to achieve them
It is not the actual juice of the lemon that flavors tea, but the liquid contained in the countless little pores of the rind
Studying the structures of nature, observing the evolution of forms, can give everyone a better understanding of the world we live in
The secrets of any trade that is pursued with serious intentions are more than a series of rules and working methods based on logic and experience and applied so as to obtain the greatest possible effect with the least amount of effort. They also include a continuous process of observations, thoughts, and ideas that are pushed ahead even if at the beginning they seem to have no logical basis
“To understand means to be capable of doing.” - Goethe
“When man ceases to create he ceases to live.” - Lewis Mumford