Retrospectives The Information Department at the Ulm School of Design

This website documents the history of a unique case in the history of design education: A programme at a design school that focuses on verbal communication, design and information theory, critical journalism, as wells as emerging topics of the 1950s and '60s, like cybernetics and semiotics. From the very beginning, this department most clearly distinguished the HfG Ulm from the Bauhaus.

 

HfG Ulm Gebäude
The Ulm School of Design in 1955. Photo: von Schweinitz-Maldonado

In addition to articles on the history of the department, the main focus of this website is on personal retrospectives by alumni of the department. A summarising introduction to the content can be found on the page Foreword and Introduction.

 

The website is based on a book published in German language in 2015.1 Almost all of its content is now available in German and English. A Spanish version is planned, currently there are only three articles available in Spanish. [This is a low/no-budget academic project, we are still looking for volunteers for translation work.]

 

To get started, here are a few recommendations from each category:

Personal Retrospectives

The Department's History

The Department Heads