SR1 Melissa Hunt

Designed by Edward Benguiat (and his associate Victor Caruso) in 1975, the typeface ‘Bauhaus’ drew inspiration from Herbert Bayer’s 1925 typeface ‘Universal’ (1).

Bayer was a leading figure associated with the Bauhaus school in Dessau, Germany (Bayer was faculty member as the Master of Typography). By definition, the term Bauhaus is derived from the term construction or architecture (bau) and house (haus) (2). In line with the fundamentals of the Bauhaus ideology, Bayer sought to abandon an upper and lower case alphabet in favour of a single lower case form, arguing “Why should we write and print in two separate alphabets? We do not speak a capital A and a small a” (3). 

   

“Typical early Bauhaus documents using serif typefaces. Later, the typefaces used by the Bauhaus fit better within the ideas of the “New Typography”: a clear, modern, industrial atmosphere achieved by anonymously designed, rather dark Grotesque faces stripped of all unnecessary decorative elements” (4).

 

Typography in the Bauhaus movement saw a move towards clarity in design. These ideas however, were frowned upon by German society, who preferred heavier, more gothic style typefaces which were rather difficult to read; whereas the Bauhaus designers saw typography as an instrument of communication, therefore needing to be clear and unambiguous in form. Bayer took these ideas further, rejecting the use of serifs in type, finding them profligate and superfluous (4). 

Drawing by Herbert Bayer (not produced as a typeface) (4).

 

Half a century later in America, Benguiat took these ideas and developed the font we commonly recognise today, Bauhaus. Born in 1927 New York, USA, Benguait worked as a type designer and illustrator, after studying at Columbia University. 

Edward Benguiat (Designer)

The 1970s saw many designers adopting Bayer’s philosophies of typography, however ITC Bauhaus was the only type developed into a large family and licensed to typesetting equipment manufactures (5).

Bauhaus reflects the Bauhaus revolution, as it is a rounded sans serif type, developed from the use of straight edges and a compass (1). It can be classified as a sans serif display/decorative typeface.

 

A modern reworking of a Bayer design that was released as ITC Bauhaus by Adobe (4). 

Indicative of the Art Deco period, Bauhaus displays a geometric anatomy, clean, unobstructed lines, and even strokes, and slightly open counterforms, giving the type a distinctive appearance, lending itself to display application (6).

In line with the Bauhaus school, Bauhaus reflects the theory of “unit[ing] creative imagination with a practical knowledge of craftsmanship, and thus to develop a new sense of functional design” (4).

Bauhaus is available in five weights; light, medium, demi, bold, and heavy (7). Interestingly, the family does not contain an italic version, although it can be argued that its simplicity, monotone style creates a strong graphic presence anyhow (5). Furthermore, Bauhaus ‘heavy’ was originally intended to be used as a strictly display-only type, accompanied by the earlier Bauhaus ‘outline’.  Due to technological developments however, the ‘outline’ was dropped from the Bauhaus family, with ‘heavy’ introduced as a part of the conventional text options (8).

Contemporary applications of Bauhaus are seen across branding and advertising, including the brightly coloured ‘News Gator’ logo (social networking solutions for large businesses) (9) and the greyscale ‘Euro News’ logo (European news channel) (10), H&M advertising features, and the ‘Bing’ logo – used in combination with a custom font (internet search engine) (11).

References

1. 'ITC Bauhaus Std' (2012). Retrieved 3rd March 2012 from, http://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?store=OLS-US&event=displayFontPackage&code=1036

2. 'Herbert Bayer Bauhaus and Beyond: A Life of Art & Design' (2008). Retrieved 3rd March 2012 from, http://www.a-r-t.com/bayer

3. 'Herbert Bayer' (year unknown). Retrieved 3rd March 2012 from, http://www.identifont.com/show?20L

4. 'Bauhaus' (year unknown). (Retrieved 3rd March 2012 from, http://www.heimdallr.ch/Art/bauhausgb.html

5. 'Type Trading Card #11' (2012). Retrieved 3rd March 2012 from, http://www.itcfonts.com/Ulc/4011/TTC11.htm

6. 'Type Galleries - ITC Bauhaus' (2012). Retrieved 3rd March 2012 from, http://www.linotype.com/308/itcbauhaus.html

7. 'ITC Bauhaus' (2012). Retrieved 3rd March 2012 from,  http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/itc-bauhaus/

8.  'True Type of the Bauhaus' (2011). Retrieved 3rd March 2012 from, http://fontsinuse.com/typefaces-at-the-bauhaus/

Images (not already referenced with text)
1. Edward Benguiat picture:  http://www.linotype.com/1515/aboutthedesigner.html
2. Bing logo: http://www.google.com/images
3. H&M logo:  http://www.image.linotype.com/fontlounge/fontsinuse/hm/jpg