The Six Major Design Movements

Following on from the videos we were required to watch as part of the reading week activities, I decided to try and answer or expand the rhetorical and thought-provoking questions asked at the end of each video:

Gothic Revival
Are you ready to get your goth on?
The gothic revival had a major influence on all design areas, but the area with the most significant influence is architecture. During the gothic revival, hundreds of gothic style churches and cathedrals we're built, many of which are still in use today. Although this is also the main area where the gothic style remains today, we also can still see today the influence on other areas such as literature, as without the gothic revival era, the classic tale by Lewis Carroll 'Alice in Wonderland' may never have existed. 

Arts and Crafts
Have you mastered your machines?
To this day technology has a massive impact on skilled trades that are constantly replaced by machines. This began with the industrial revolution, a historical breakthrough on one hand, but also the death of skill craftsmen. However, many people do still care about how and why products are made, be it technological or not; and good finishes and reliable products are what the consumer expects, something that could be all thanks to the craftsmen.

Bauhaus
How bauhaus is your house?
Bauhaus saw the beginning of the multi-qualified person. Students could study several areas together, sharing ideas and theories, rather than choosing simply between Art or Design. I believe this is the best way to learn, to not limit yourself to a certain area, certain skills or certain ways of thinking. In some ways this reflects ideas of postmodernism, by playing with all areas of Art and Design and blurring the boundaries between them.

Modernism
Do you buy into modernism?
Whilst on the one hand everybody wants a well finished and functioning product, the less is more, in my opinion, can never win, as style will always prevail. The best of both worlds is key, but at the end of the day, 9/10 people are more likely to go for the colour, shape or pattern rather than the functionality. 

American Industrial Design
Does American Industrial design do it for you?
This era just goes to show the down falls in modernist theory. The look, the shape, the colour, the wow factor, those are the things that often make simple products successful; purely because advertisers can have a field day with their descriptions and superlatives. Whilst the overall concept, when put in it's straight forward sense, may leave the consumer feeling somewhat cheated and deceived, this is the point where advertising and sales really came into play. This was the start of sales, advertising and marketing as we know it today, as appealing to the consumers indulgent side, selling them a slice of luxury lifestyle, that is how you get good sales. And it wasn't all bad, as the futuristic and stylish designs of the American Industrial era helped lift spirits and provide optimism for those living through the great depression.

Postmodernism
Planning something postmodern?
Postmodernism is the only way to describe modern thinking; ideas of rebellion, new from old, opposing, questioning. Postmodernism provides an edge, a push for complex thinking and rhetorical, unanswerable questions; something people crave in the average day-to-day mundane life of modern society. Modern society is a place where health and safety and facts and figures come first, where there is only right or wrong; postmodernism is the questioning of that, the questioning or science and the unknown, the idea or paradoxes and the impossible. The idea of something wrong being right, some good being in evil, and vice versa.