Constructivism was a design movement prevalent in the 1920's in Russia. Two of its most celebrated proponents were Alexander Rodchenko and his wife Vavara Stepnova. The movement was based upon a socialist-based ideology which looked at design as a way to construct a new culture and society for the benefit of the masses. Constructivism used advertising and commodities as mediums to promote benefits of the new socialistic and eventual communist government positions and programs. As such, most designs created by Rodchenko were advertisements for government-owned and or sanctioned products and services.
The constructivist approach to creating meaning was collage-based—assembling a message using words and images, similar to the construction of a building. The design methodology was organized, structured and linear, but took advance of serendipitous design concepts which often manifested themselves via the collage.
