Question pair 1

What were the key ideas of Bauhaus?

First thing that was laid out in Bauhaus’s manifesto was about functionality and its number one importance when it came to making products. Bauhaus believed that all products made had to have a unique selling point in terms of aesthetics and had to be functional in their design, this meant making products inexpensive and long lasting while maintaining functionality of the product. Therefore, mass production was very helpful in saving costs. Second thing listed in the Bauhaus manifesto was about being smart and tactical with money and time spent building the product, this didn’t mean buying poor materials or trying to rush the production of the product and making it an unusable product for the means of profit, rather it meant using time and money efficiently together to make sure there was budget set and a time set for the completion of the project. The third part of his manifesto consisted of Bauhaus explaining how he believed that there was always a need for discovery in terms of design, this meant coming up with unique ways to use art and architecture to influence product designs, Bauhaus used this technique to come up with the earliest form of graphic design, this was because of his use of negative space which created graphic design as we know it today. Lastly Bauhaus emphasized the need for simplicity and effectiveness, this meant removing things that are not required for the product to function. Adding unnecessary things that make the product look pretty made the product clunky in the eyes of Bauhaus, so making sure that the products production was focused on multi-functionality and not just a focus on making it look pretty. Bauhaus really enjoyed influencing design that were more organic and felt down to earth in a way this made them more beautiful than products focused on being beautiful. I will be using the ideas of multi-functionality from Bauhaus in my game development.

Sources and references

https://www.widewalls.ch/bauhaus-manifesto-key-points/

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm

Do you feel the ideas have an influence on contemporary game design?

From my understanding I believe that Bauhaus had a small influence on games this is due to the complexity of games today and how they’re made with the idea of making them look as beautiful as possible, for example Triple A titles like Destiny focus on being beautiful rather than being functional. This has made the very popular titles being released today very lacklustre as they lack multi-functionality in terms of story and function. On the other hand, Bauhaus does have some influence on indie game designs this because they’re mainly focused on functionality which follows a memorable story line along with a gameplay which flourishes of functionality, this in a way gives them their own beauty in design as they organic in their design and aesthetics like the indie game Fez. Even today Bauhaus influences many small parts of the game industry which are growing bigger and bigger due to many platforms allowing for indie games to sell, therefore Bauhaus continues to influence contemporary game designs in small ways in this current period.