the method
four moves, in order. every lesson in every room uses them, and so did the first-year students at the Bauhaus.
- seelook at an object until you can name the shapes inside it. the preliminary course at the school started here: drawing what is there, not what you expect. the preliminary course
- reducekeep only what does a job. a color marks something, a line ties something, a shape carries weight. everything else goes. principle 2, reduce to essentials
- buildput the essentials back together with a ruler, a compass and three colors. form follows from what the thing has to do. principle 1, function decides form
- take one awayevery lesson ends the same way: remove one thing and see if the design still works. what is left is what matters. less is more, tested
where it comes from
every Bauhaus student began with the Vorkurs, a half year of unlearning taught by Itten, then Moholy-Nagy and Albers. students worked with materials directly, by hand, before they designed anything.
werkstatt compresses that into five minutes a day: one material, one problem, the same four moves.
the method in each room
the moves stay the same; the material changes.
color studio
mix, match and name colors on a living wheel. start with the three primaries and find out why they hold together.
3 lessons →form lab
draw with a ruler and a compass. build a chair, a teapot or a poster from nothing but basic shapes.
3 lessons →type room
set a headline in lowercase sans. learn weight, tracking and the grid by moving real letters.
3 lessons →the principles behind it
the method is the werkstatt principles turned into practice.