Shifting Geographies

Abstract

Summary This article explores the intersection of Bauhaus principles, communication design, transnationalism, and postwar global affairs present in Herbert Bayer’s World Geo-Graphic Atlas. The book was produced exclusively for clients of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America in 1953 as part of the company’s unique patronage of artists and designers. Driven by the design prowess Bayer honed as a Bauhaus instructor, it is exemplary of modernist informational graphics. However, the book is most notable for its encapsulation of postwar plurality. It visualizes geopolitical networks, air communication, comparative economic development, industrial resources, and mounting Soviet pressure, while maintaining the sophisticated design identity the Container Corporation adopted in its branding of products and itself. The World Geo-Graphic Atlas is here used as a case study to explore applications of Bauhaus reframing and design in the context of a postwar, capitalist America.