The Modern Letter - The Best of the Bauhaus Typography

To say that the whole graphic design industry owes its life to the Bauhaus movement would be a serious understatement. The Bauhaus typography is especially credited for the development of modern day graphic and industrial design. There have been numerous articles and studies on the effects of the German school on today’s art world, but today, we are choosing to focus on the Bauhaus typography and bring you the best of the best of this category. But first, let’s look back on what Bauhaus is, and why is it so important. The Bauhaus School was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919. The movement sought to utilize the 20th-century machine culture and create buildings, design, and furniture in a useful way. They encouraged the usage of modern technologies and believed that form follows function and that the artist and the craftsman should be united in one individual, and focused on the productivity instead of the mere beauty of the design. 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. Bauhaus style of typography is effective in conveying the message of the design. Balanced layout, harmonious geometric shapes, vibrant colors, 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 the 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. One of the most notable examples is the poster for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, heavily influenced by its German predecessor. So, if you want to see some of the fine examples of Bauhaus typography, scroll down and enjoy the simplicity and power of these works.

Jan Tschichold’s Penguin Books design

Jan Tschichold was a German typographer, designer, teacher, and writer. He had a background in calligraphy and strongly advocated for the sans-serif typefaces, and standardized paper sizes. In his book Die Neue Typographie, he proposed the rules for standardization of type practices. However, the most notable thing he’s done is the design for the Penguin Books covers. He oversaw the production of over 500 books published by between 1947 and 1949.

László Moholy-Nagy’s Title page of: “Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar 1919-1923”

László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian-born artist who taught at the Bauhaus School. He was influenced by constructivism, and interested and proficient in the fields of typography, photography, sculpture, printmaking, painting, and industrial design. His time at the Bauhaus was marked by his advocacy for the implementation of the multidisciplinary approach to design. Moholy-Nagy is famous for his concept of typo-photo, the synthesis between photography and typography, which can be considered as the inception of the modern-day graphic design. He collaborated with Walter Gropius in the making of a series of fourteen Bauhausbücher (Bauhaus books), that became manifests of the school.

Joost Schmidt’s Poster for the 1923 Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar

Joost Schmidt produced this poster designed for a competition as a cross comprised of circles and squares. The cross is placed diagonally and includes the Bauhaus logo designed by Oskar Schlemmer. The proposal for the competition required the use of this logo, as well as the information about the exhibition, venue, and the date. The original version of this artwork was used for advertising, and it was placed in 120 railway stations in Germany. Joost Schmidt was a graphic designer and one of the pioneers of Bauhaus typography, and a professor at the College of Visual Arts in Berlin.

Joost Schmidt

Born 1893 in Wunstorf/Hanover. In 1910, began studying at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Academy of Fine Art in Weimar; as a pupil of Max Thedy, awarded master’s diploma for painting. Active service from 1914 to 1918. Student at the Bauhaus from autumn 1919 to April 1925; training in the wood-carving workshop under Itten. and Schlemmer. First typographical works from 1923. Teacher at the Bauhaus from 1925 to October 1932. Head of the sculpture workshop from October 1925 until its closure in April 1930; head of the advertising department as from May 1928. Taught ‘Lettering’ course for first-semester students from 1925, plus life drawing in 1929/30 and ‘Nude and figure drawing’ for senior students from October 1930.

Moved from Dessau to Berlin in 1933. Together with Gropius, designed the Non-Ferrous Metals section of the ‘German Nation, German Work’ exhibition in Berlin in 1934. Rented a studio in Berlin and worked as a cartographer in a publishing house. In 1935, taught at the Reimann school under Hugo Häring. Subsequently banned from teaching; employed on occasional basis. Charlottenburg studio destroyed in 1943. Active service in 1944/ 45. In 1945, appointed professor at the Berlin Academy of Fine Art by Max Taut to teach preliminary course for architects. Together with a group of Bauhäusler, designed the exhibition ‘Berlin plans’ in 1946. In 1947/48, invited by the USA Exhibition Center to design exhibitions. Plans for a Bauhaus exhibition and a Bauhaus book. Died 1948 in Nuremberg.

Notable works:

In 1921/22, his projects included the design and completion of carvings for the Sommerfeld House in Berlin and the design of a poster for the Bauhaus exhibition of 1923 in Weimar.