Influencing Industry, Josef Albers (Bauhaus Typography)

Influencing Industry

Josef Albers

Bauhaus Typography

Bauhaus 1919—2023

Radical Innovations in Design Education

Editors: James Volks & Susan Harrison

Foreword

While researching Josef Albers typography I found many links between his work and the typeface ‘Futura’ by Paul Renner. Applying similar Bauhaus principles of using geometric forms, they both produced work fit for the new age of commercial industry in the early 1900s. However, upon further research I found that Josef Albers specifically inspired one member of the Futura font family, Futura Black. A font used across multiple major commercial pieces, from film posters to branding for state departments. Albers views on typography and intentions with his own font surpassed his own timeline and has left a lasting legacy through Futura Black in modern design. In A statement made my Albers, he mentions, “what the Bauhaus was meant to do was to influence industry”, and that is exactly what he did through typography.

In an interview with Josef Albers focusing on his contributions to the world of design, he refers back to his time at the Bauhaus. His journey from student to master, from working with glass to designing Typography, he was accomplished in many areas. The goal of combining artist and craftsman, to produce design work that was universally accessible and valued function over form. A legacy that has influenced modern design and design education we see around us today. Albers has achieved this goal of the Bauhaus through his typography.

Designed in 1926, his typeface ‘Stencil Font’ was a response to the rapidly changing world of the early 1900’s. Post war and driven by the budding commercial ethos of America, Alber’s realised that the black letter type found in books was becoming redundant. Life was becoming more fast paced and there was no place for ornamentation in regards to typography.

In response to this new pace of life, in 1926, Albers designed his font ‘Schlabonshrift’ (Stencil Font). A font intended for large typeface needs, it increases legibility at a distance. Produced using the square, triangle (half the square) and circle/ quarter circle it followed Bauhaus principles of using basic geometric forms as building blocks.

In 1927 Futura was released by Paul Renner, a typeface that accomplished extreme success, perfect for Industry. Inspired by Bauhaus typography, the letterforms are based off of the circle. Subsequently, the font family of Futura developed and allowed choice for any commercial needs. One of these fonts being, Futura Black.

Futura Black was inspired by Josef Albers stencil Font. Created as a display typeface, it is well suited to posters and commercial art. It has been featured on major film posters such as The James Bond film ‘No time to die’ and on album covers for the Beach boys, bringing Albers legacy into modern—day design with it.

Introduction

In Dessau the former Weimar art—printing workshop was transformed into a printing workshop, later to call itself the printing and advertising work—shop. It now included a small composition department using a sans-serif script in all type sizes, together with a platen press and rotary proof press. Max Gebhard described the activities in the workshop: ‘All the students working here set their own designs and printed them under instruction. There was much experimentation with printing together, overprinting and compositions using large wooden type. All the printed materials, forms, posters and publicity brochures needed for Bauhaus purposes were printed in the school’s printing workshop on the basis of designs by Herbert Bayer or the students.

Instead, Herbert Bayer tirelessly monitored and directed work on the commissions currently under execution. Bayer devoted himself energetically to the emerging science of advertising psychology. His teaching covered topics such as ‘Systematics of advertising’ and ‘Effects on consciousness’. Stylistically speaking, the workshop was now using the ‘new’, ‘elementary typography which Moholy had first introduced at the Bauhaus. Red and black were the dominant colours; other compositional elements included sans-serif type (joined later by futura) and the use of photos and typographical material such as points, rules, bold rules and screens. Arrangement on the plane now respected not the rules of symmetry but the significance of the text, and might be angled or vertical.

Josef Albers

Josef Albers was born on March 19, 1888,in Bottrop, Germany. Albers studied art in Essen and Munich before entering the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1920. There, he initially concentrated on glass painting, and in 1929, as a journeyman, he re-organized the glass workshop. In 1923, he began to teach the Vorkurs,

a basic design course. When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925, he became a professor. In addition to working in glass and metal, he designed furniture and typography.

Portrait of Josef Albers

His Time at the Bauhaus

The Bauhaus School taught typography, and they were strong advocates of sans-serif type, as they believed that its simplified geometric form was more appealing and useful than the ornate German standard of blackletter typography. Composing letterforms from the circle, square and triangle, Bauhaus style of typography is effective in conveying their message of the design.

Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus art school under the principle that form and function should work together, not separately. His school sought to merge the aesthetics of fine art with the practicality of modern industry.

Balanced layout, harmonious geometric shapes, vibrant colours, and sans-serif letters in upper case or lower case fonts are simple but strong. Bauhaus layout was not only horizontal and vertical, but angled as well, or wrapped around objects. The influence on modern-day posters and designs is evident, as you can see the legacy of the German school on various book and album covers, as well as political posters and signs.

This was a period of reimagining typography and fonts were taken seriously as an essential part of practical and beautiful visual communication. The Bauhaus wanted to emphasise the urge for simplicity and functionality. Typography that allowed clear, universal communication in response to the rapidly changing commercial world of the early 1900s. This is exactly the ideology that Josef Albers brought to his approach to typography.

Albers teaching the ‘Vorkurs’ at the Bauhaus

Bauhaus Poster for typography

Chapter Albers Bauhaus Education

“All secondary embellishments will disappear; the things, in and of themselves, structured in clarity, are most compelling today. Economy and therefore technology and transportation prevail, and thus rigid standardization is required. Everything demands concision.”

Alber’s Approach to Typography

When developing his own typography Albers believed that it should be designed in response to the world around him. In an essay written by Albers in connection with the development of the Schabloneneschrift (Stencil) alphabet (1926) he remarks;

Flowing type—that is, written elements lined up in a regular fashion corresponds to flowing speech, to the uniformly stressed linguistic representation. Epic language requires its purest application. We don’t speak like this at all any more. Life today doesn’t take place at a steady pace; we can no longer be classical.

Time is money: events are determined by economics. We live at a fast pace and move accordingly. We use shorthand and the telegram and code. They are not the exception, but rather the rule. All typefaces are experiencing strong competition from photography, cinema and radio.

The typographer, just like the first printers, must invent our form anew, because he most often encounters worn-out forms. To stand on his own two feet, he must reflect on the elements of layout, perhaps also study the ancients in order to recognize how they arrived at their form and why it no longer belongs to us.

Rational times bring constructive emphases along with them.”

Schabloneneschrift (Stencil) Font

The stencil typeface is an attempt to shape in a standardized way the typeface in its relationship to its individual elements and in various typefaces’ relationship to one another. It is intended to be a typeface for advertisements and posters, especially for larger sizes, which is clearly legible at some distance. The legibility of the most commonly used typefaces decreases with distance. However, The “stencil typeface” increases legibility at a distance.

It is made up exclusively of basic geometric shapes. Specifically of the following three: the square, the triangle (half of the square cut diagonally), and the quarter circle whose radius corresponds to the side of the square. The elements of the letters combined from these shapes stand unconnected next to each other.

The size ratio is 1:3 throughout. The height of the small main stem equals three times the width. By composing it of the same elements, a standardization of the typeface proportions results. The type can thus be cut precisely with machines.

Initial Sketches of Alber’s ‘Stencil Font’. The Font is made entierly of geometric shapes. Specifically the square, the triangle and quarter circle. In these early sketches of the letterforms we can see his many itterations of combining these shapes.

Scan of lowercase stencil alphabet in ink with pencil sketches

Chapter Alber’s Stencil Font

Breakdown of individual letters, using the square, triangle and quarter circle

Chapter Alber’s Stencil Font

How Futura Black was inpired by Alber’s Stencil Font

Chapter Stencil Font and Futura

Stencil Font

Futura Black

Chapter Stencil Font and Futura

Function over form; Stencil Font and Futura

Contemporary designers such as Joseph Albers and Paul Renner shared Bayer’s advocacy of “rationalized” typographic construction. Albers’s “stencil typeface” (1925) is “built-up” from a few forms, giving the typeface a regularity and simplicity which Albers thought to be the “essential” core of the letterform, purified of subjective intentions.

Similarly, The original design for Renner’s typeface Futura (1927) is based on the forms created by the compass, T-square, and triangle. The G exemplifies the translation of a conventional letterform into a geometric language. Futura’s schematic characters rejected the nuances of traditional type design methods in favour of the rigidity of mechanical construction.

Futura’s simple geometric circles, triangles and squares represent function over form, taking away the nonessential and decorative elements. This made it almost instantly successful as a typeface in the 20th century, with success still continuing today.

Chapter Stencil Font and Futura

Stencil Font on grid paper

Chapter Stencil Font and Futura

Inspiration for Futura Black

In 1929, ‘Futura Black’ was published. It is an alternative design in the Futura family that uses stencil letterforms made for commercial, large display purposes.

Likely inspired by Albers ‘stencil Font’ and Bauhaus principles, it only uses elements of geometric shapes and increases the thickness of the letterform to increase legibility at a distance.

Futura Black Font poster with different point sizes

Chapter Stencil Font and Futura

Futura Black used in Industry

Alber’s influence on ‘Futura black’ extends his legacy into modern-day industry. His intentions of producing a universal font that thrived in the new commercial world were accomplished. Utilising his Bauhaus education and knowledge that form should follow function and, his opinion that typography has to adapt and change to reflect the world it lives in.

Futura black in use can be seen across multiple areas of industry. On Album covers, film posters, magazines, advertising and even the Olympic Games.

List of images

1. Portrait of Josef Albers, Howard Greenberg

2. Albers teaching at the Bauhaus, MediartEducation

3. Nameplate for Bauhaus magazine, Letterform archive

4. Stencil Font on grid paper, Letterform archive

5. Stencil Font initial sketches, Letterform archive

6. Stencil Font on grid paper, Getty

7. Futura Black poster, Tumblr

8. James Bond ‘No Time To Die’ poster, Fontsinuse

9. Pulp Magazine cover, Fontsinuse

Alber’s Approach to Typography (8)

Function Over Form (15)

Futura Black Used in Industry (20)

His Time at the Bauhaus (3)

Inspiration For Futura Black (17)

Josef Albers (2)

Stencil Font (10)

Sketches For Stencil (11)

Bibliography

Albers, J (1968). Interview with Sevim Fesci, Oral History interview with Josef Albers, 22/6/1968

Ana Moriarty, WideWalls, 2016, The Modern Letter - Best of the Bauhaus Typography

Albers, J(1926) ‘Regarding The Economy of A Typeface’

Bauhaus Kooperation, 2018, Combination Font

Bauer Types, 2023, Futura ND Black

Ben Barhart, Vectornator, 2021, The Bauhaus Movement: Design Principles, Ideas, and Inspiration

Design is Fine, 2022, Josef Alber; “Regarding Stencil Typeface”

Guggenheim Museum, 2023, Josef Albers online collection

Laura Deirmann, Documenta Bauhaus, 2022, A Comparison of Visual Identity

Letterform Archive, 2022, Typefaces Inspired by The Bauhaus

Miriam Harris, Digital Arts, 2017, Here’s Everything You Should Know about Futura

Matt Elis, 99 Designs, 2019, 100 years of Bauhaus: what today’s famous logos would look like in Bauhaus style

Siebenbrodt, M, & Schöbe, L 2009, Bauhaus, Parkstone International, New York

Copyright @2023

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced to be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.