Bauhaus and Zen devotion in Apple products

                                 

Apple, by Steve Jobs, is highly regarded as one of the most influential companies of all time. But many of the same ideals that Apple represents directly come from the teachings of the Bauhaus.  He mentioned that his product is simple yet an expressive spirit, emphasized on rationality and functionality by employing clean lines and forms. He accomplished this through product designs and marketing campaigns.

Minimalism was a religion to Gropius; a creed to be applied to everything from buildings to typography. To Steve, it was a powerful tool to be used everywhere it makes sense. What Steve implicitly knew that Gropius and most minimalists since him have completely missed is the fact that a minimal spirit is rarely a lovable spirit. And so Steve imbued the user interface of all his Apple creations with lovable characteristics on many levels. That lovable interface began by setting people at ease with their machines by using ideas with which they were familiar and comfortable.

However, other than Bauhaus, I fouund out that Steve Jobs actually also inspired by the Zen devotion.After dropping out of college, he made a long pilgrimage through India seeking enlightenment, but it was mainly the Japanese path of Zen Buddhism that stirred his sensibilities. “Zen was a deep influence,” said Daniel Kottke, a college friend who accompanied Jobs on the trip. “You see it in his whole approach of stark, minimalist aesthetics, intense focus.” Jobs agreed. “I have always found Buddhism—Japanese Zen Buddhism in particular—to be aesthetically sublime,” he told me. “The most sublime thing I’ve ever seen are the gardens around Kyoto.”

                                       

So, i think that Jobs actually make a collab of the Bauhaus design principle with Zen devotion's idea then appied it on all his products.

Reference

i)Peg.S (2011) ‘The Apple of Zen’, Appamada, 16 October. Available at: http://community.appamada.org/profiles/blogs/the-apple-of-zen (Accessed:  27 July 2015)

ii) Chris.O.B (2013) ‘How Steve Jobs and Apple turned technology into a religion’, Los Angeles Times, 1 September. Available at: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/01/business/la-fi-tn-how-steve-jobs-and-apple-turned-technology-into-our-religion-20130829 (Accessed: 27 July 2015)

iii) Walter.I (2012) ‘How Steve Jobs’s love of simplicity fuelled a design revolution’, Smithsonian Magazine, September. Available at: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-steve-jobs-love-of-simplicity-fueled-a-design-revolution-23868877/?no-ist (Accessed: 1 June 2015)

iv) Steve. M(2013) 'Skeuomorphism - How Steve Jobs Hit What Walter Gropius Missed - But Now, Is Apple Throwing Its Soul Away?' Original Green, 6 May. Available at: http://www.originalgreen.org/blog/skeuomorphism---how-steve.html#sthash.KMMLoiG0.RkDX7Knk.dpuf (Accessed at: 27 July 2015)

MUJI influenced by Bauhaus

The Bauhaus principle influenced many brands in today's society, Muji is one of them.

                                     

Japanese retail company, Muji which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods.Muji is distinguished by its design minimalism, emphasis on recycling, avoidance of waste in production and packaging, and no-logo or "no-brand" policy.

Muji's no-brand strategy means that little money is spent on advertisement or classical marketing, and Muji's success is attributed to word of mouth, a simple shopping experience and the anti-brand movement. Muji's no-brand strategy also means its products are attractive to customers who prefer unbranded products for aesthetic reasons, and because it provides an alternative to traditional branded products.

Muji in Japanese means no pattern, it is known for its distinctive design, commentators have described Muji’s design style as minimalist and as Bauhaus style. 

The resulting products are streamlined, environmentally friendly, and beautiful in their simplicity. Muji was emphasized on innovative and simple materials, processes, and packaging. Recycling and avoid waste in packaging and production, all products sell in simple packaging bearing only product-related information and a price tag. 

"The reasons why our bathrooms are so complicated and messy is because all of these brands want to promote their own product by making it very colorful and desirable—everyone has a priority to stand out." Shimazaki，president of Muji USA says about the visual clutter from packaging. "Muji design is very basic," Shimazaki says. "Nothing stands out so you can continue to add to your home."

Muji has managed to translate the Bauhaus principles into a minimalist, contemporary design language that considers the end consumer at its core. It is pretty impressive how diligently Muji sticks to its principles of simplicity and ecological awareness. No matter what field they expand into, the no-brand essence never gets diluted. 

Reference

i) Lofter(2015) 'Looking for future brand packaging design trend from Muji and Bauhaus', [Transl.by Lim K.R] Available at: http://miitee.lofter.com/post/ef137_735857c (Accessed: 28 June 2015)

ii) MUJI ‘Manufactured by THONET’. Available at: http://www.muji.de/en/store/category/furnitureandelectronics/thonet/ (Accessed:2 August 2015)

iii）Diana.B(2015) 'Muji is not Trend: Hoe design fuels Muji's growth', Fastcodesign, 17 August. Available at: http://www.fastcodesign.com/3049774/muji-is-not-a-trend-how-design-fuels-mujis-growth?utm_source=facebook#3  (Accessed: 17 August 2015)

Minimalism of iMac

The Bauhaus was  known for its bright primary colour palette. 

The colour palette looks similar with the early version of the iMac.

It shocked the consumer electronics world with its colorful translucent design, bold minimalism, and its lack of floppy drive, which Windows-centric folks simply could not get over. 

Apple continued to use translucent plastics in its products over the next few years as it experimented with the bright candy colors at first, then more minimal colors in it iMac line, and finally a monochrome approach in its power macintosh machines.

Though not directly primary colors, Apple utilized these bright colors throughout many of 

their designs and maintained a strict palette. Every new product they released with is 

available in three colors, Silver, Space Gray or Gold. 

Besides that, The new concept of Apple's MacBook Pro aluminium uni-body allowed for the minimization of craftsmanship. Screws, tabs and connectors no longer held together, the case held all the components with minimal connectors. Even the choice of aluminium itself was intentional for its cooling characteristics and the ability to pull heat away from the processors.





Reference

i) Benj. E (2012) "The unexplored history of translucent apple design", MacWorld, 16 November. Available at: http://www.macworld.com/article/2013960/the-unexplored-history-of-translucent-apple-design.html (Accessed:11 August 2015)

ii) Reddit (2014) 'Why Apple's MacBook are made of aluminium?'. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1ung1q/why_apples_macbook_are_made_of_aluminium/ (Accessed: 11 August 2015)

Minimalism of iPod

Although the iPod wasn’t the first portable MP3 player nor was it the one that had the most

features and functionality.  It is what changed the music industry leading people towards the digital music trend and away from transferable media. Their simplicity and ease of use allows the user to be able to be more creative and productive when using them. Bauhaus modernism first employed this approach of breaking down the object to its bare essentials while maintaining its beauty.

 In many ways, what impressed me with the device more than anything else was how it was constructed. Taking the iPod mini apart made me realize that design isn’t something that’s skin deep - beauty comes from within. Instead of being constructed like a sandwich like everything else, Apple used an extruded aluminum shell with guide rails to slide all of the components inside. So great.

The simple act of rotating your finger on the wheel allows you to skim through thousands of songs. Our electronic devices have gotten increasingly complex over the past decade and I think there’s something really appealing about the sheer simplicity of a uni-tasking device like this.

                                     

The iPod mini is everything I look for in a product; gorgeous aesthetics, beautiful craftsmanship, ease of use, and most importantly, a sense of humility and quiet voice.

Reference

i) Andrew.K (2015) "iPod Mini", Minimally Minimal. Available at: http://www.minimallyminimal.com/blog/ipod-mini ( Accessed: 11 August 2015)

Flat Design - inspired by Bauhaus

"Flat" design has been around for the past century. It was mainly inspired by the Bauhaus movement in the 1920s and evolved into the "International Typographic" or Swiss style.

Bauhaus 

In fact, Microsoft even beat Apple in the flat race with Windows 8 "Metro"

Apple recently unveiled iOS 7 to the public.

Skeuomorphism and flat design are two very different ways of representing the interactions and functions of a computer, mobile, tablet or website. Skeuomorphism seeks to replicate real-world items directly into its design. This style makes use of drop shadows, bevels, gradients and textures. Flat design rejects nearly all of these attributes, and takes on a much more minimalist approach. 

Reference

i) Element wae.(2013) 'Skeuomorphic and Flat Design trends'. Avaiable at: http://blog.elementwave.com/post/57692150765/skeuomorphic-and-flat-design-trends (Accessed: 26 June 2015)

Brands that influenced by Bauhaus Style II

Actually there more brands are following the Bauhaus theory. The art of Bauhaus is coming back in 21st-century style with old designs and new capabilities.  It is an inspiring legacy that at times looked back into history to move us forward. 

IKEA

For instance, The  set of tables on the right is a Bauhaus creation and was first introduced in 1925 by Josef Albers. This product is currently priced at $1950.00.

However, the  set of tables on the left were first introduced in 2012 and is produced and sold by Ikea today, it is also referred to as a modern piece of furniture. This product is currently priced at £90.00

                                 

Nesting Table, 1925                     IKEA Nesting Table

The chair on the left is produced and sold by Ikea today and is referred to as a modern piece of furniture. This product is currently priced at £100.00

The chair on the right is a Bauhaus chair, designed in 1956 by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. This product is currently priced at £310.00

 
From the examples, you can tell how Bauhaus has impacted today's designers by the similarities in materials, design style and colour. The price of these products has also significantly decreased over the years and has become a consumable item to a broader market due to its affordability.

Other than furniture and technology, Fashion started to explore this
style already in 20 century when Yves Saint Laurent created collection entitled 'Modrian' in 1965. It featured combined color-blocking basic hues on dresses. In today's ready to wear lookbooks and runway shows this trend appears almost in every collection. 

                                    Bottega Veneta, Christian Dior, Thomas Tait, Fausto Puglisi, Marni

Kenzo, Givenchy, Balenciaga, J.W. Anderson

                                     Fendi, Roland Mouret, Hugo Boss, Tory Burch, Louis Vuitton

Reference

i) Fashion Gum(2015) 'Bauhaus Fashion Trend 2015'. Available at: http://fashiongum.com/womens-fashion/bauhaus-fashion-trend-2015/ (Accessed: 10 July 2015)

ii) Lifeisfullofdesign (2014) ' Bauhaus..fashion vs design', 12 March. Available at: http://lifeisfullofdesign.com/2014/03/12/bauhaus-fashion-vs-design-2/ (Accessed: 10 July 2015)

iii) David.B (2009) ‘Is there Bauhuas in IKEA?’, The design observer group, 17 September. Available at: http://designobserver.com/feature/is-there-bauhaus-in-ikea/10398 (Accessed: 27 July 2015)

Brands that influenced by Bauhaus Style I

Other than that, Bauhaus had influenced the modern design nowadays. There are brands that are following the theory of ‘Less is More'. Not only minimalism but also aim for simple, accessible functionally, but the sense of playfulness in both product development and in the final artefacts. 

For example, Steve Jobs’s Apple unique twist is that form follows emotion. I think that Job’s wanted people to have an emotional reaction to his products. He accomplished this through branding – both product designs, and marketing campaigns.

Bauhaus movement of ‘less is more’. The idea translated to many of Apple’s flagship products: the iPod, iPad and iPhone were all designed so that the user experience was effortless.

Steves Jobs publicly discussed his embrace of the Bauhaus style in a talk. He predicted the passing of the Sony style in favour of Bauhaus simplicity. He proposed instead an alternative that was more true to the function and nature of the products. That’s why he make the products high-tech, and package them cleanly and be simplicity so that the product look high-tech. Steve Jobs felt that a core component of design simplicity was making products intuitively easy to us. So, He wants them to be as simple as they can.

Besides, MUJI is known for its distinctive design, which is continued throughout its more than 7,000 products. Commentators have described Muji's design style as being minimalist and as 'Bauhaus Style'.

MUJI, in association with the German furniture maker THONET, has reinterpreted two historically important styles of furniture.

               1858 No.14                                                                                             2008 MUJI No.14

The chair on the left is inspired by the curved wooden chair "No 14"  which was made in 1859 by THONET, 

                         1928, Bauhaus                                                                                             2008 MUJI Steel Pipe Chair

However, the second chair is based on the tubular steel furniture created by members of the German school of design, Bauhaus, in the 1920s.

Both of these beautiful designs were created using revolutionary techniques and materials, and represent a turning point in the history of furniture manufacture; they were intended to be reasonably priced and for sale to the general public in order to deliver "quality chairs to everyone". 

References

i) MUJI. ( n.d ) ‘Manufactured by THONET’. Available at: http://www.muji.de/en/store/category/furnitureandelectronics/thonet/ (Accessed:2 August 2015)

ii) Paola (2014) ‘Apple design and Bauhaus’, Ivisitori, 18 Setember. Available at: http://www.ivisitatori.it/post/97812482690/apple-design-and-bauhaus (Accessed: 29 July 2015)

Role of Bauhaus in the history

Many groups and individuals have influenced design in the world of Advertising, from William Morris and his Arts and Crafts style to Jules Cheret and Art Nouveau. However, arguably no entity has been as influential to modern design as the collective known as the Bauhaus.

The Bauhaus was formed in 1919 by German architect Walter Gropius with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier in Weimar, Germany. Although the Bauhaus was founded by an architect, it did not actually have architecture department during its early years. Instead, Gropius wanted to focus on a study of art that would eventually encompass many different aspects of locations. They had a school Weimar, one in Dessau and one in Berlin. The schools were shut down by Hitler when he came into power in 1933.

The schools formation came during a time of revolution in Germany, after the fall of the German Monarchy which followed World War I. Prior to the fall of the monarchy the German people were subject to much stricter censorship rules which limited the creative freedom of German designers such as Walter Gropius. As a result, many designers began experimenting with what were considered very radical ideas at the time.

One of the major contributions of the Bauhaus was to the modernist movement. They were influenced by the modernist movement which was developing in the West at the time. The modernism movement started in the late 19th century in the United States with the help of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Bauhaus would later go on to become the most influential force of the era in modern design.

Modernism moved away from the ornate and complex styles of Victorian art and other styles, to a simpler and cleaner look which is popular in the corporate world today. It rejected conservative ideals of realism which were dominant before. Creatively, before this time designers and artists focused on creating images which were accurate and realistic in nature, confined by the perceptions of reality.

Bauhaus approach to teaching, and understanding art's relationship to society and technology, had a major impact both in Europe and the United States long after it closed. It was shaped by the 19th and early 20th centuries trends such as Arts and Crafts movement, which had sought to level the distinction between fine and applied arts, and to reunite creativity and manufacturing. This is reflected in the romantic medievalism of the school's early years, in which it pictured itself as a kind of medieval crafts guild. But in the mid-1920s the medievalism gave way to a stress on uniting art and industrial design, and it was this which ultimately proved to be its most original and important achievement. The school is also renowned for its faculty, which included artists Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee andJohannes Itten, architects Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and designer Marcel Breuer. 

•  The motivations behind the creation of the Bauhaus lay in the 19th century, in anxieties about the soullessness of manufacturing and its products, and in fears about art's loss of purpose in society. Creativity and manufacturing were drifting apart, and the Bauhaus aimed to unite them once again, rejuvenating design for everyday life.

• ·        Although the Bauhaus abandoned much of the characteristic of the old academic tradition of fine art education, it maintained a stress on intellectual and theoretical pursuits, and linked these to an emphasis on practical skills, crafts and techniques that was more similar to the medieval guild system. Fine art and craft were brought together with the goal of problem solving for a modern industrial society. In so doing, the Bauhaus effectively leveled the old scale of the arts, placing crafts on par with fine arts such as sculpture and painting, and paving the way for many of the ideas that have inspired artists in the late 20th century.

• ·        The stress on experiment and problem solving at the Bauhaus has proved enormously influential for the approaches to education in the arts. It has led to the 'fine arts' being rethought as the 'visual arts', and art considered less as an adjunct of the humanities, like literature or history, and more as a kind of research science.

References

1. UK Essays. November 2013. Influence Of The Bauhaus On Design Cultural Studies Essay. [online]. Available from: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/cultural-studies/influence-of-the-bauhaus-on-design-cultural-studies-essay.php?cref=1 [Accessed 20 June 2015].

2. Griffith Winton, Alexandra. August 2007. "The Bauhaus, 1919–1933". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. Available from: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm 

3. Graphic Design History (2011) ‘Thethree locations of Bauhaus'. Available at: http://www.designhistory.org/Bauhaus_pages/BauhausLocations.html

4. The Art Story (2015) 'Bauhaus’. Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm

Bauhaus to inspire your logo design

Bauhaus was based on the static rules of Art Deco. One basic idea of the Bauhaus was to remove everything superfluous and break a design down to its essential elements. However, the principle of the Bauhaus design can be easily adapted to a logo design. This static minimalism changed everything and can still be found in design today, such as in the logos of Faboo Taboo, Axion and microsoft .

Faboo Taboo

Axion

Microsoft logo changed their logo style to a flat design, while flat design draws its influence from various styles of art including: swiss style, minimalism and the styles emerging from Bauhaus, it can be said that it was Apple’s 2013 release of IOS 7 that really made flat design “mainstream” .

Other than that, Beats by dr.dre applied Bauhaus universal typeface on their logo design.

Reference

i) Eckler.D (2010) 'Modern art movements to inspire your logo design', Smashing magazine, 7 January. Available at: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/12-modern-art-movements-to-inspire-your-logo-design/. (Accessed June 13)

ii) Ajays(2014). Apple & Beats by dr.dre[logo]. Available at: http://ajayswamy.com/2014/05/10/apple-beats-by-dre-the-synergies/ (Accessed: 18 June 2015)