Ulm School (HfG Ulm)
ウルム造形大学 / 1953–1968 / Style / Postwar Industrial Design
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.

At a glance
Visual cues
- Method and system
- Grids and modules
- Ornament excluded
- Design as science
Best used for
- Aligning a product family and its markings as one system of rules
- Building a device whose operation is explained by symbols and color rules alone
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- One sans face, three sizes at most, everything ranged left
- Composition
- Lay out controls and displays on a grid of modular dimensions
- Material
- Neutral surfaces with one or two colors allowed to mark function
- Caution
- 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.
- Further study
- Max Bill / Tomás Maldonado / Braun and Dieter Rams
Related entries
- Bauhaus (バウハウス)Shared effects: Trust.Compare Ulm School (HfG Ulm) and Bauhaus
- Swiss (スイス・スタイル)Shared effects: Trust / Calm.Compare Ulm School (HfG Ulm) and Swiss
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Cite this entry
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- https://indexstyle.org/styles/ulm-school
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