MOCT

Museum of Contempory Typography present the works of

Herbert Bayer MO CT

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY TYPOGRAPHY

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W O R K S

Herbert Bayer

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Herbert Bayer

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TYPOGRAPHICAL

INTRO

MOCT INTRO

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e w t is charact developed influentia Moholy-N geometric ing design born on A encourag went on t in Berlin the Third Shortly th and move work can Visual Ar Septembe

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erbert Bayer was an Austrian designer and artist who utilized various media to create dynamic typefaces, paintings, and architecture. His work terized by its Minimalist and crisp aesthetic, d from his time studying at Walter Gropius’ al Bauhaus school under Paul Klee and László Nagy. He would go on to use his knowledge of c shape integration to create aesthetically pleasns for contemporary advertisements. Bayer was April 5, 1900 in Haag, Austria to parents who ged his artistic growth throughout his youth. He to become an art director for Vogue magazine in 1928, and designed tourist pamphlets for d Reich’s hosting of the 1936 Olympic Games. hereafter, he was labeled a “degenerate artist” ed to New York, fleeing the Nazi regime. Bayer’s found in permanent collection of the MIT List rts Center, among other institutions. He died on er 30, 1985 in Montecito, CA.

Intro

Herbe Baye Wor A

rtistic polymath Herbert Bay influential students, teachers integration of all arts throug studies as an architect in 1919 in Da attended the Bauhaus in Weimar, stu Kandinsky and typography, creating consisting of only lowercase letters t font of the Bauhaus. Bayer returned (moving in 1926 to Dessau, its secon of advertising, design, and typograp graphic compositions.

He began making his own photogra Bauhaus; however, in his years as a t ground for the New Vision photogra close colleague László Moholy-Nagy his Bauhaus publication Malerei, Ph tography, film). Most of Bayer’s pho 1928–38, when he was based in Berl They represent his broad approach t architecture and carefully crafted mo

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ert er rks

yer was one of the Bauhaus’s most s, and proponents, advocating the ghout his career. Bayer began his armstadt. From 1921 to 1923 he udying mural painting with Vasily g the Universal alphabet, a typeface that would become the signature d to the Bauhaus from 1925 to 1928 nd location), working as a teacher phy, integrating photographs into

aphs in 1928, after leaving the teacher the school was a fertile aphy passionately promoted by his y, Moholy-Nagy’s students, and hotographie, Film (Painting, phootographs come from the decade rlin working as a commercial artist. to art, including graphic views of ontages.

H E R B E R T

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ayer designed the type used in the signage at the Bauhaus building in Dessau

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ayer was b at the Bau range of fi sculpture, typogr chitecture. In his studied painting short while he wa haus’ first classes of work that he c was more notable careers of work.

Bauhaus, workin Container Corpo both Germany a

both a student and a teacher uhaus and worked in a wide fields including painting, raphy, advertising and ars early years as a student he with Kandinsky, but in just a as teaching one of the Baus on typography. The amount created before he was 28 e than most designers entire He spent time teaching at the ng as an Art Director for the oration and as an architect in and America.

Bauhaus and Herbert Bayer

Bauhaus F

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erbert Bayer created the Bauhaus’ typographic identit tinue our Bauhaus 100 series celebrating the school’s c explore how the Austrian designer’s lettering became s with the school. True to form, perhaps the most mythic typefac out of the Bauhaus, Universal, was one that strove to be as idea school itself. The inclusion of an upper case was deemed unnec being, among other things, a waste of time in both the product of typewriters. Serifs too were abandoned in pursuit of someth as architecture’s International Style.

Bauhaus style of typography is effective in conveying the messa design. Balanced layout, harmonious geometric shapes, vibrant sans-serif letters in upper case or lower case fonts are simple bu Bauhaus layout was not only horizontal and vertical, but angled wrapped around objects. The influence on the modern day pos signs is evident, as you can see the legacy of the German schoo book and album covers, as well as political posters and signs.

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Font

ty. As we concentenary, we synonymous ce to come alistic as the cessary – it tion and use hing as crisp

age of the t colors, and ut strong. d as well, or sters and deol on various

A TYPOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION

Type is everywhere – street signs, magazines, the web. Every typeface you see around you has been painstakingly and carefully planned out, and each has its own personality and vibe. But

have you ever stopped to wonder how the typefaces we encounter everyday came to be? Who invented them, and why? If you’re interested in learning more about typography, you’ve come to the right place.

William Caslon created a typeface which features straighter serifs and much more obvious contrasts between thin and bold strokes. Today, we call this type style ‘old style’.

Nicolas Jenson created Roman Type, inspired by the text on ancient roman buildings. It was far more readable than blackletter, and caught on quickly.

[Roman]

1400

[Black letter] Guttenberg invented movable typefaces, giving the world a cheaper way to obtain the written word. Up until this point, all written materials were done by hand, and were very costly to purchase. Guttenburg also created the first typeface, blackletter – it was dark, fairly practical, and intense, but not very legible.

[Big Calson]

a [Italics]

Italics begin to be used as way to fit more words onto a page, saving the printer money. Today, we use italics as a design detail or for emphasis when writing.

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[Did

1757

1501

1470

Firmin Didot and Bodoni created th Roman typefaces Bodoni). The contr extreme than ever created a very co

1734

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[Baskerville]

John Baskerville created what we now call Transitional type, a Roman-style type, with very sharp serifs and lots of drastic contrast between thick and thin lines.

W

hat’s the difference between a typeface and a font? Before you jump in, let’s clarify the terminology used. Typography is the art of creating the letters we use everyday. It’s designing them and creating them and making them real. A font is a collection or set of letters – they’re the mechanism you use to get your message across to your reader. Every letter and dash and semi colon would be considered part of a specific font.

A typeface is the design you see – the style and look of a specific font. Throughout history, typefaces have been influenced by technological advances, culture shifts, and just general boredom with the state of typography. Here’s how it all went down:

TERMINOLOGY EXPLAINED

William Caslon IV created the first typeface without any serifs at all.

It was widely rebuked at the time.

This was the start of what we now consider Sans Serif typefaces.

During this time, type exploded, and many, many variations were being created to accommodate advertising.

Giambattista he first ‘modern’ (Didot, and rasts were more r before, and ool, fresh look.

Swiss designer Max Miedinger created Helvetica, the most loved typeface of our time. This was a return to minimalism, and many other simplistic typefaces such as Futura surfaced around this time period.

[Franklin Gothic]

dot]

1815

[Helvetica]

1920's 1816

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Hellenic Wide

Vincent Figgins created Egyptian, or Slab Serif – the first time a typeface had serifs that were squares or boxes.

contemporary 1957

[Copperplate] Frederic Goudy became the world’s first full time type designer, developing numerous groundbreaking typefaces, such as Copperplate Gothic, Kennerly, and Goudy Old Style.

[Peach Blush]

With the internet, we have such a vast variety of old and new typefaces available for us to peruse and use. All these typefaces give us an abundance of options and looks for our designs today, and we’re not limited by just one or two typefaces like we would have been a few hundred years ago.

About The Mus of MO CT

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY TYPOGRAPHY

Contemporay Typography The Museum of Contemporary Typography has been a proud statement of the LA County for over three years now. The MOCT is owned by none other than Lebron James. Mr. James made sure that this museum would present the best typography work. MOTC has 650 pieces of art, all ranging from the Art Deco era, to the post modernism movement, bauhaus collections, and so many more!

Admission to the museum is free with a student ID. Enjoy!

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seum

COLOPHONE

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MO CT

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY TYPOGRAPHY

Museum of Contemporary Typography 21 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012 w w w.th emuseumofmoderntype.org

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