With his essay, Vignelli stands in defense of Modernism, lauding it as something greater than passing trends in art. It is an ideology, a driving force that artists can fight for. Additionally, I saw this essay as a call to arms of sorts for designers. Modernism isn’t dead. There are still many issues within industry and government that require addressing. For myself, I remain still quasi-ambivalent; while there are many aspects of Modernism I admire, I feel that some of the “trivia” and “kitsch” prevalent in society aren’t all that bad.
1.) Modernism seeks to improve the design; into something better
• “To make it better not only from a functional or mechanical point of view, but to design it to reflect cultural and ethical values…”
• “The solutions should reflect the approach taken, and by virtue of its configuration, stimulate cultural reactions in the viewer, rather than emotional titillations.”
2.)Modernism transcends mere artistic style, it is an ideology.
• “…the responsibility to improve the world around us, to make it a better place…to fight and oppose trivia, kitsch, and all forms of subculture which are visually polluting our world.”
• “…the ideology of Modernism, was an ideology of the fight, the ongoing battle to combat all the wrongs developed by industrialization during the last century.”
• “Modernism was and still is the search for truth, the search for integrity, the search for cultural stimulation and enrichment of the mind.”
• “Modernism was never a style, but an attitude.”
• “…the cultural thrust of the Modernism belief is still valid…”
3.) There is still a need for Modernism/Modernists in today’s society.
• “Much still has to be done to convince industry and government that design is an integral part of the production process and not a last-minute embellishment.”
• “…fueling intellects against shallow trends…brought forward by the media, whose very existence depends on the ephemera.”
4.) Post-modernism is not the successor to Modernism, but a temporary fad.
• “The followers of the Post-modernist fad are gone, reduced to caricatures of the recent past.”
• “Post-modernism should be regarded as…a critical evaluation of the issues of Modernism.”
• “…the lack of a profound ideology eventually brought Post-modernism to its terminal stage.”
“The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness, just like a doctor fights against disease. For us the visual disease is what we have around, and we try to do is to cure it somehow with design.”
“Rethinking Modernism, Revising Functionalism” – Katherine McCoy
McCoy voices her own doubts over the strict rationalism of Swiss Modernism. Instead, she looks towards concerns about the role of design and communication. However, McCoy’s uncertainties over the validity of Modernism doesn’t seem as motivated or as driven when compared to Vignelli’s essay. She ruminates for a while on Modernism, and where the adherence to its ideals got her, and how she has begun to revisit functionalism.
1.) Modernism at the time was an appropriate response to the current trends.
• “To make it better not only from a functional or mechanical point of view, but to design it to reflect cultural and ethical values…”
• “The solutions should reflect the approach taken, and by virtue of its configuration, stimulate cultural reactions in the viewer, rather than emotional titillations.”
• “…Abandoning the ambiguously intuitive territory of fine art.”
2.) Expresses some doubt over the “pure” style of Modernism
• “I came to view this desire for “cleanliness” as not much more than housekeeping.”
• “Functionalism shapes my process.”
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