Zeitgeist and Utopia

1a. Zeitgeist

Dictionary meaning: The defining spirit mood of a particular period of history as shown by this idea of beliefs of the time.

Origin: Mid 19th century: from German Zeitgeist, from Zeit "time" + Geist "spirit"

My understanding of the meaning of Zeitgeist: I have three meanings to the word which is that firstly it is the type of movement based on beliefs and equality, the second meaning which is spirit of the times or ages and the last meaning is the spirit of the times in which the ideas and beliefs of a particular period of history.

This quote is one that inspired me through the meaning of Zeitgeist.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

-Margaret Mead.

How the Zeitgeist movement relates to design 

Design and the Zeitgeist movement should always have a link because as designers when a project is given research has to be done in order to understand the project at its best. For example, Israel mostly deals with crafts, therefore, when a designer receives a project to do for Israel, he/she has to keep in mind about the crafts used in Israel so that people could understand the project better.

screen shot of zeitgeist and design relation

continuation of the zeitgeist and design relation

The Zeitgeist movement timeline:

It all begins with the art movement in 1850 the impressionism. Before the time the Zeitgeist movement came about there was the world war, the era where people joined up engineers and architects and where machines were used to replace human labour. 

timeline of the of the Zeitgeist movement.

This is an example of the timeline of the Zeitgeist movement came to be.



The Zeitgeist movement changed the way in which the society operates.

People believed that the Zeitgeist movement was all about change therefore, change is genetic, what else is genetic either than the movement?

" Behavior is genetic, things are inevitable". - Dr Robert Sapolsky (Professor of Neurological Sciences, Stanford University).

Therefore, from my understanding Dr Sapolsky means that change in history is and always be inevitable same as feelings and behaviour.

The Zeitgeist Babel:

This is the book that explains even further what Zeitgeist means. 

Zeitgeist Babel

Zeitgeist babel: introduction

Zeitgeist babel: continuation

10 relevant Zeitgeist sources

Zeitgeist is said to be mythical. Although some say or think that it is true.

1b.Utopia

An imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.

Wikipedia. (2016). Utopia. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia. Last accessed 10th March 2016.

Dictionary meaning: an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. The opposite of DYSTOPIA.

ORIGIN: 16th century based on Greek ou 'nou' + topos 'place', the word was first used in the book Utopia (1516) by sir Thomas More.

My understanding of the word Utopia is a place in which you imagine everything being perfect, example Elysium.

How the Utopian movement relates to design.

Utopian ideals often place emphasis on egalitarian principles of equality in economics and government.

The De Stijl (Dutch for “the style”) group was one of several art and design movements that responded to the chaotic trauma of World War I with a “return to order.”

Headed by Dutch artists Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg, De Stijl rejected pre-war decorative tendencies (think Art Nouveau) and pushed Cubism to new extremes: total abstraction consisting of only the most basic design components — vertical and horizontal lines, primary colors.

primary colours

Alex Bigman. (2012). A brief visual history of the utopian De Stijl movement. Available: https://99designs.com/blog/creative-inspiration/know-your-design-history-the-utopian-de-stijl-movement/. Last accessed 10th March 2016. 

1.1aUtopia and design

1.1bEmpowerment as a Utopian idea

Elizabeth Russell. (2016). how utopian movement relates to design. Available: https://books.google.co.za/books?id=f9z0DYQV6G8C&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=how+utopian+movement++relates+to+design&source=bl&ots=mtHm0sdwcc&sig=3YGK-K43rLGcrmGBfgb4Pt-iDg0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjyyJWixrXL. Last accessed 10th March 2016.

10 relevant searches

10 searches

What information did I find?

The information that I found was the different explanations of the meaning Zeitgeist and Utopia. Different meanings for both the movements.
I found how both them movements relate to design and how they impacted the way in which we design today.  The timeline of the Zeitgeist movement showed the art movement at the beginning and with what it ended with.
How I came to selecting the most relevant sources was that I researched words that I wanted to research, then I researched further than just reading the first information source that was given. I first read the information that was given by the source and if that source had information that would help me through my research I would look into it further.
Having the right time to research what is needed and having the enough energy helps with finding relevant information from irrelevant information. However knowing what to research is very important towards what you want to know most importantly what to look for.
The images that I have found are the timeline of the Zeitgeist movement, the cover of the Zeitgeist in Babel, the Babel introduction about the Zeitgeist movement and the primary colors relating to the Utopian movement done by Alex Bigman.

Visual Vernaculars:

A Visual Vernacular is a “look” that is associated with or “native” to a particular time, place, event or group. It characterizes the image that comes to mind when referring to any one of these specific things, a visual reference to the zeitgeist, because of this capability to communicate more than simply use interesting combinations of color, pattern or image, visual vernacular instead has the power to represent deeper meaning alluding to style, belief systems, geographic region, time period, or cultural directions, to name a few. It is, in fact, a language all its own.

Pacific Graphic Design. (2016). Visual Vernacular. Available: //pacificgraphicdesign.wordpress.com/courses/typography-ii/assignments-arts-081/visual-vernacular/. Last accessed 10th March 2016.

1a.

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b.

SteamPunk Bible

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c.

Chapeaugraphy occasionally anglicized to capnography

d.

Dante Alighieri

e.

Jazz era

f.

Colonial Americana

g.

Post-modernism of 1980's digital

h.

shows

i.

comics

j.

Emoji and the visual vernacular

The site that most interested me personally was the site at which I researched the Zeitgeist timeline. This is because it showed which movement began when and where it all (almost) ended and it showed what happened in between.

The keywords that help to refine the two searches are Timeline, Zeitgeist, Zeitgeist movement, movement, period, century, Utopia and design.