the streamlining of typography | 1920–1929 rene koszerowski

poster for sixtieth-birthday exhibition of kandinskyherbert bayer 1926

the streamlining of typography | 1920–1929

staatliches bauhaus, weimar, 1919–1923 herbert bayer 1923

contents pages

1900–1909 1–121910–1919 13–221920–1929 23–331930–1939 34–411940–1949 42–531950–1959 54–611960–1969 62–731970–1979 75–811980–1989 82–951990–1999 96–109

the woman without a name, part twojan tschichold 1927

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art deco movementtypography, in the decade of 1920–1929 underwent a dramatic change. the constructivist movement took hold with the goal of creating a new technological society. the movement promoted a scientific language of design which was popularized in the new decorative movement called art deco. power and speed became the themes of this machine age. shapes were streamlined and simplified, curved letterforms were replaced with angular, sleek ones.

typographic designers eschewed serifs and created new type-faces which according to herbert bayer, “reflected the notion of beauty in utility.” these new fonts were highly legible and especially served the commercial world.

art deco posters became the most successful means of advertising during the 1920’s. they employed bold design and the new “utilitarian” type-faces. the art deco poster embodied the machine age, the steam age.

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etoile du norda.m. cassandre 1927

staatliches bauhaus, weimar, 1919–1923 herbert bayer 1923

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bauhaus movementthe bauhaus movement, founded by walter gropius in germany in 1919, was a school of architecture, art and design. it was characterized by respect for practical material, geometric design and its severely economic sensibilities. in his school, gropius stressed to his students functional craftsmanship and designs that could be mass produced.

sans-serif types and strong vertical and horizontal rules were typical of bauhaus style design. the bauhaus’ elementary principles of typography stressed function, communication in the simplest, shortest, most penetrating form and to serve social ends. that is, its ingredients should have external organization (the typographic material be properly related) and internal organization (ordered content.) these principles were the beginnings of a new style termed “the new typography.”

photogram sketch for the title page of broomlászló moholy-nagy 1922

poster for the 1923 bauhaus exhibition in weimarjoost schmidt 1923

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design for a newspaper kioskherbert bayer 1924

kiosk for selling and advertising cigarette brand pherbert bayer 1924

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the streamlining of typography | 1920–1929

“why do we write and print

with two different alphabets

simultaneously? we do not

speak a capital ‘A’ and a small ‘a’.”

bauhaus magazine coverherbert bayer 1927

herbert bayer 1925

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herbert bayerherbert bayer, (1900-1985), an austrian born graphic designer, typographer, architect, photographer and painter was one of the most influential contributors to the bauhaus movement.

bayer had studied for four years at the bauhaus under such teachers as lászló moholy-nagy and wassily kandinsky. he was then appointed the schools’ director of advertising and printing by the schools’ founder, walter gropius.

for this appointment, bayer developed a concise visual style. he embraced an all-lowercase and sans serif typeface. bayer is recognized with designing the custom geometric sans serif font, universal.

to quote herbert bayer:

“in designing the “universal type” i asked myself, “is this pretense of the handwritten alphabet still justified at a time when almost all that is

“written” is either printed on typewriters or on printing presses? when handwriting plays a very minor role?

some of the requirements of a new machine alphabet, i concluded, should be:

a) simplification of form for the sake of legibility (the simpler the optical appearance the easier its comprehension);b) clean proportions for each letter, designed with basic geometric elements to produce a harmonious character of the alphabet;c) renunciation of serifs, up- and down-strokes and of a handwritten character;d) adaptation for the typewriter, for handwriting, etc., to be developed from the basic design of the

“universal type” for machine printing.

but why do we write and print with two different alphabets simultaneously? we do not speak a capital “A” and a small “a”. to convey one sound we do not need large and small letter symbols.” (sic)

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universal typeherbert bayer 1925

self portraitherbert bayer 1932/5

the streamlining of typography | 1920–1929 rene koszerowski