Ulm School of Design Hochschule fr Gestaltung Ulm 1953 - 1968

LOOK back - LOOK forward: HfG Ulm and Design Education in India Marcela Quijano 06.03.2010 Bangalore

The Ulm School wishes to point out what must be the social purpose of high creativity, in other words, indicate which are the forms that deserve to be created and which not. Toms Maldonado, 1955

The Ulm School of Design Hochschule fr Gestaltung - HfG Ulm had a brief history: This innovative institution for the teaching of design in the 20th century existed from 1953 until 1968. At that time, the HfG Ulm attracted students from all over the world and, after it closed, its educational principles exerted a huge influence on the teaching of design, also in India.

Three key subjects: 1 Political background 2 Designers education and its precedents 3 The ulm model and further academic developments at the HfG

1 Political background

1945 After the devastating war and the Nazi past, Germany appeared as a broken country. 1948 ...lets start here, in Ulm... Inge Scholl and Otl Aicher were members of a circle that initiated political and cultural renewal.

1943 Hans and Sophie Scholl were arrested while they were distributing antifascist leaflets at the University of Munich and they were executed for high treason. After the war, Inge Scholl, Hans and Sophie Scholls older sister, encouraged the re-education of the German youth.

Inge Scholl, Otl Aicher, and Max Bill saw political education and environmental design as ways of strengthning democratic ideas and encouraging the emergence of a new culture. They developed the concept of a new school of design in Ulm. This defined the political character of the Ulm School of Design.

2 Designers education and its precedents

In the beginning craftsmen both designed and made objects. It was only with the emergence of the industrial age that it became necessary to separate out design activity and leave it in the hands of specilists. Up to the end of the nineteenth century these specialists were architects, engineers, or artists. Design education was subordinated to the predominance of architecture.

The crucial turn in the teaching of design came at the beginning of the 20th century with a new type of school, which was the Bauhaus. This german institution laid the foundations of what today is known as industrial design and graphic design. Design ceased to be an applied art and consolidated as a profession.

The beginning of the HfG Ulm 1953 - 1955 Max Bill, Bauhaus graduate and renowned artist and architect, was the first HfG Ulm rector. During the first years the Ulm School followed the line of the Bauhaus Dessau. New aproaches in design were put into practice within the departments: Visual Communication, Industrial Design, Building, Information and later Film.

Initial Foundation Course The fundamentals applied were based on the Bauhaus preliminary course. Teachers: Walter Peterhans, Josef Albers, Johannes Itten, Helene Nonn-Schmidt, and Max Bill.

Farewell to the Bauhaus With the departure of Max Bill in 1957 a new stage in the HfG Ulm began. The idea that design is art was left aside and industry was now taken as a reference point.

3 The ulm model and further academic developments at the HfG

Reformed Foundation Course In 1958 Toms Maldonado redefined the foundation course. This would constitute the starting point for a new orientation of the teaching of design with scientific grounds.

From 1958 a narrower relationship between design, theory and science was looked for. This led to the ulm model: - The plans of study were extended with theoretical fundamentals - Interdisciplinary team work was encouraged - Development groups were introduced to promote cooperation between science and industry

The teaching became increasingly scholarly in the 1960s. At this stage new subjects were introduced: Ergonomics Semiotics Cybernetics Programming methods Information theory and structures Theory of science

Scientific positivism became important. It was applied to teaching and went on to play a dominant role in design. Methodology became the major feature of project activities and it seemed that methods were now more important than aims.

A Balance between Theory and Practice 1964 - 1968 The aim was a new balanced relationship between science and design. New subjects such as mass transport, electronics and ecological issues characterized this stage of teaching at the Ulm School.

The scientific approach to design carried out at the Ulm School constituted a basis for a critical approach to society as a whole. This has meant that the contribution of the ulm model remains relevant to today.

A wide range of different personalities taught at the HfG and influenced the curricula. This lead to a situation of conflict, as the Ulm School developed a high academic standard with mayor results, but within an institutional weakness.

End 1967 and 1968 The Ulm School of Design experiment led to a great divergence of opinions, which made it difficult to keep the support of public opinion. Government subsidies were suspended in 1968. 11/68: Closure of activities at the Ulm School accompanied by protest.

The sudden collapse of this pedagogical experiment ensured in a similar way to the end of Bauhaus that its ideas were spread all over the world. Margit Weinberg Staber, former HfG student, 1998