Bauhaus: The model for new design school, and the schools philosophy and teaching approach greatly influenced modern design. United the idea of the artist and the builder, the school was also greatly inspired by Morris's Arts and Craft Movement, Russia's constructivism and De Stijl. The curriculum of the Bauhaus school grew over 14 year period allowing graphic design to become a valuable part of the school. Afterwards Nazi's grew fearful of school and it was closed down.
A.M. Cassandre: had architectural approach and used geometric forms in his works. His posters used mechanical subjects such as airplane, ocean liners and railroads cars. He applied concepts of modern painting to French poster designs. He believed art is not just for elite but for everyone, and he borrowed different elements from different movements as a decorative style.
Herbert Bayer: he continued to spread influence of the Bauhaus and helped make graphic design a bigger part of the curriculum. He used geometry, grids, and sans serifs to get a modern look, he also designed the Universal sans serif in 1925.
William Addison Dwiggins: wrote the book Layout in Advertising, and he was a calligrapher and illustrator but better known as a type designer. He was skilled at combining type, hand lettering and cohesive designs with nature inspired flourishes.
Jan Tschichold: Wrote The New Typography and like to incorporate modern elements into his designs. He went beyond strict modernism during his career, and he raised the standards and quality that influenced publishing industry.
Mid-century Modern: Many artists and designers come to America to get away from Nazi power. World war II created more job opportunities and boosted economy. Arta & Architecture magazine sponsored case home studies and encouraged designers to use good designs with affordable productions. International Style or Swiss Style was adapted by Bauhaus and De Stijl movements for graphic designers.
Lester Beall: Launched modern graphic design movement in the US and known for creating posters showing benefits of electricity. First graphic designer to integrate European avant-garde to US through poster designs, magazine designs and identities. He introduced corporate identity design, he had extensive usage guidelines and strong graphic identities.
Alexey Brodovitch: incorporated white space and double-page spread in US magazine design. He encouraged photographers to be creative and for models to have free movement.
Alex Steinweiss: designed inventive record covers and he pioneered a conceptual approach to album design as he let the music decide how he would design the album covers with stylized illustrations, geometric shapes, musical symbols, and putting type in overall design.
Herbert Matter: broadened the use of photography in design, used many different styles from Cassandre, Le Corbusier and Leger as he experimented in typography. He collaged many photographs together and used dramatic scales with dynamic perspective to make images expressive and artistic.
