The world as a project - Otl Aicher
Since his accidental death in 1991, German graphic designer Otl Aicher has been a constant source of writing. A few months before his death, he compiled his most important writings in a book entitled Die welt als entwurf (1992) – The World as a Project .
The designer, famous for having designed, among other things, the identity of the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, that of Lufthansa and the Rotis typographic character, thus recalls the definition he gave to modernism and, in doing so, explains his hatred of the postmodern universe in which "museums become slices of pie and coffee machines become fluted columns".
Through the eighteen essays collected here, Aicher looks back on his teaching experiences and precisely distinguishes the Ulm school from the Bauhaus. He salutes the work of famous architects (Foster and Piano in particular) and colleagues, "moralist" designers in the good sense of the term, such as Hans Gugelot and Charles Eames. Finally, he outlines the contours of a creative practice, graphic design, whose ethics defy established disciplinary boundaries.
He thus asserts himself as a humanist convinced that design approached and practiced as a project can change our society.