Corporate Modernism vs Ulm School (HfG Ulm)

企業モダニズム / ウルム造形大学

Corporate Modernism comes from Contemporary Branding and Ulm School (HfG Ulm) from Postwar Industrial Design. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Corporate Modernism

Corporate Modernism — ポール・ランド《IBM ロゴ 8本ストライプ》1972年 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainCorporate Modernism — ポール・ランド《ミニットマン国立歴史公園ポスター》1974年 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainCorporate Modernism — NASA／Isaac Watson《ワームロゴを描いたアルテミスI固体ロケットブースター》2020年 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The golden age of corporate identity established by Rand, Chermayeff and their peers: geometric marks, gridded standards manuals and disciplined application speaking for corporations in modernism's abstract language.

Ulm School (HfG Ulm)

Ulm School (HfG Ulm) — マックス・ビル ウルム・スツール（CC BY-SA 3.0）Ulm School (HfG Ulm) — ウルム・スツール 1954（CC BY-SA 3.0）Ulm School (HfG Ulm) — マックス・ビル設計 ウルム造形大学 校舎入口 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Founded by Max Bill as the Bauhaus's successor, the school redefined design as science, method and system. Its collaboration with Braun made the functionalist face a world standard.

Corporate ModernismUlm School (HfG Ulm)
Era1950s–1970s1953–1968
FamilyContemporary BrandingPostwar Industrial Design
KindStyleStyle
CuesAbstract geometric marks / Standards manuals / Gridded application discipline / Single-color strengthMethod and system / Grids and modules / Ornament excluded / Design as science
Best used forRebinding a company of many businesses under one identifying mark · Organizations with many branches where application drift must be held down by rulesAligning a product family and its markings as one system of rules · Building a device whose operation is explained by symbols and color rules alone
TypeOne type family fixed, the name locked as artwork down to its letterspacingOne sans face, three sizes at most, everything ranged left
CompositionGrid and margins given as numbers, clear space around the mark written downLay out controls and displays on a grid of modular dimensions
MaterialSingle color as the default, hues assigned by use rather than by business unitNeutral surfaces with one or two colors allowed to mark function
CautionA manual with no one checking application lets exceptions pile up in the field and the force of unity goes first.Borrowing the grey and the grid without deciding the reasoning leaves nobody able to justify a rule, and the system collapses as elements are added.

Put these two together

Contemporary Branding ／ Postwar Industrial Design

IndexStyle