In Germany, during the 1930s there existed a lifestyle magazine called die neue linie that every young German girl wanted to have. One of the first fashion and lifestyle outlets to ever exist and a revolutionary and sensationalist magazine, designed by various notable designers of that time, including the Bauhaus designer Söre Popitz.
Graduate of the Bauhaus school, Popitz is the only known woman to come out of this movement and start a career of her own, and one of the only women permitted to enroll in the school to begin with. While there, she studied under the prominent designer Jan Tschichold.
Despite the fact that the very few women who were allowed to enroll to the school were encouraged to learn weaving and other “female-orientated” subjects, Popitz managed to barge through the doors of the painting, architecture, and typography departments which were considered “male-oriented” subjects. As such, it comes as no surprise that Popitz ended up becoming one of the most successful women designers of the 20th century.
The Bauhaus inspiration was clearly evident in the striped-black, linear ads that Popitz produced for a household appliance company named Thüngia. This ad depicts different stick figures standing beside the company’s sinks or stoves – a stick-figure doctor, a husband and wife, and a group of girls. The poster’s concise lettering on a geometric grid showcasing the vehement Tschicholdian influence in Popitz’s approach to typography. Moreover, the household appliances on each poster are meticulously drawn in thin black lines and lack detailing which, in the language of design, signifies cleanliness and efficiency. Also, Popitz displayed stylish stick- women, rendered abstract yet wearing very detailed clothes, ranging from the traditional to the modern, revolutionarily displaying all types of women – housewives and women alike.
Considering the zeitgeist that Popitz operated in, these designs conveyed innovative forms perception and design styles, and were a turning point in the German and European shift toward modernization of graphic design and typography.
