The World As Design

by Otl Aicher

Otl Aicher's writings are explorations of the world, a substantive part of his work. In moving through the history of thought and design, building and construction, he assures us of the possibilities of arranging existence in a humane fashion. As ever he is concerned with the question of the conditions needed to produce a civilised culture. These conditions have to be fought for against apparent factual or material constraints and spiritual and intellectual substitutes on offer.
Otl Aicher likes a dispute. For this reason, the volume contains polemical statements on cultural and political subjects as well as practical reports and historical exposition. He fights with productive obstinacy, above all for the renewal of Modernism, which he claims has largely exhausted itself in aesthetic visions; he insists the ordinary working day is still more important than the "cultural Sunday".

Genres: Design, Theory, Architecture, Art Design, Philosophy

Paperback

First published July 27, 1991

About the author

Otto "Otl" Aicher (13 May 1922 – 1 September 1991) was a German graphic designer and typographer. He is best known for having designed pictograms for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich that proved influential on the use of stick figures for public signage, as well as designing the typeface Rotis. Aicher also co-founded the Ulm School of Design.

Reviews

[Tone · Rating 5 out of 5]

讀的是中文譯本，可以感覺到在德文的語法要完全平順的轉換上還是有點不足。拿著鉛筆慢慢消化，花了不少時間，不過也許必然如此。
一系列演講、雜誌、論說文章的集合，涉及的範圍相當廣：從設計、建築、美學、哲學、理性思辯，到消費文化、企業、社會、政治、文明。Olt Aicher提出許多非常犀利的觀察跟分析，即便沒有經歷過二十世紀末跟千禧年的轉折，他的諸多見解對於現在的議題依然切中要旨。
我或許沒有活過他經歷的現代主義、戰亂、法西斯極權時期，但也面對許多相同或更甚嚴重的問題；願自己能長保清晰同理的心與腦，在數據邏輯理性之旁，同時堅持「構思起草」（der Entwurf）和「實踐」的精神。

p.s. 書中的好quote實在太多，可惜無法立刻找到原文對照。

[Muthesius Design - Bookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

"der entwurf ist das erzeugen von welt. er entsteht dort, wo theorie und praxis aufeinanderstoßen. diese heben sich dann nicht gegenseitig auf. sie finden ihre entfaltung. entwurf wird neben theorie und praxis eine neue eigene geistige diemension. die menschliche kultur läßt sich nicht länger auf denken und tun reduzieren. dazwischen schiebt sich, als eigene methodische disziplin, das entwerfen, das entstehen dessen, was noch nicht ist, weder in der theorie noch in der praxis. im entwerfen erweisen sich beide als fundamente. der entwurf übersteigt theorie und praxis und eröffnet nicht nur eine neue wirklichkeit, sondern auch neue einsichten. im entwurf nimmer der mensch seine eigene entwicklung in die hand."

S.169 aus dem Buch "Die Welt als Entwurf "

[Ged · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aicher was a German designer most famous of his graphic design and typography. His most famous font is Rotis His impact was far wider. Aicher was a co-founder of the short-lived Ulm School of Design. Over its 15 years it developed a legacy that continues to echo through design education.

He worked with prominent German brands including Braun, Lufthansa and ERCO the lighting firm.

Aicher's design language for the Munich Olympics was ground breaking. He designed the first Olympic mascot: Waldi a dachshund with multicoloured bands on his body. The posters for the Munich Olympics were hyper coloured designs that still had a system wrapped around them and now trade for hundreds of pounds.

You can blame him for single handedly kicking off the use of stickmen pictograms on public signage in buildings like airports.

Aicher and his colleagues at Ulm were about more than making things look pretty on their medium of choice, they thought about systems. Aicher's holistic approach to systems influenced modern brand design. Mark Holt, a co-founder of 8vo; who worked on everything from Factory Records to billing systems for mobile carrier Orange cited Aicher as a major influence.

Aicher's book The World of Design collects a series of his essays across a wide spectrum of topics. Culture and political essays sit alongside examinations on the process of design and typography. Design and art do not exist in isolation but as part of the wider world. Something that you become keenly aware of as being central to his thinking - alongside his advocacy of reinvigorating modernism.

Probably most striking is Aicher's delivery and style of writing. He writes with absolute confidence as each item has been thought about, despite feeling like a stream of consciousness in the way those mulled over thoughts are put down. He also completely dispenses with capital letters, sentences flow into each other from a visual perspective. This gives his work a sense of urgency and authenticity - but doesn't make it any easier to read.

Theses essays felt as if they were born on the internet not written sometime before Aicher died in 1991, which says a lot about how fresh and contemporary his work still is.

[Nick Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where have designers who think this deeply gone?

[Timothy Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reason I love a good dispute

[Esther]

“the world is becoming more beautiful and pleasant to the extent that we are destroying it”

[KK · Rating 3 out of 5]

中文讓我讀得如此痛苦。
--
p.44 伏爾泰慶祝理性與「　」蒙的君主政體。/ 缺字了耶？？

[Miquel Reina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world as design as an essential book for all those who want to dedicate to the world of creation or have creative restlessness is. I read it during my university studies design and I think since then I have not looked the world in the same way. The world as design not only explores the mechanisms of creation but especially in the way we look at the world to convert every opportunity into a project.

Spanish version:
El mundo como proyecto es un libro esencial para toda aquellas personas que se quieren dedicar al mundo de la creación o tienen inquietudes creativas. Yo lo leí durante mis estudios universitarios de diseño y creo que desde entonces no he vuelto a mirar el mundo del mismo modo. El Mundo cómo proyecto no solo indaga en los mecanismos de creación sino sobre todo en la manera cómo miramos el mundo para convertir cualquier oportunidad en un proyecto.