Thinking with Type_ A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students - PDF Room

162 | thinking with type

das bauhaus in dessau

Letterhead, 1924. Designer:

Herbert Bayer. Collection of

Elaine Lustig Cohen. Herbert

Bayer’s letterheads for the

Bauhaus are manifestos for a

new typographic order. Rather

than provide a decorative frame

or a centered title, Bayer treated

the entire page as a surface to be

divided. Points, short hatches,

and lines of type indicate axes

for folding the sheet and

positioning text. This letterhead

also promotes Bayer’s idea that

all letters should be lowercase,

a point expounded in small

print across the bottom.

The new typography not only contests the classical “framework”

but also the whole principle of symmetry. —paul renner, 1931

manifesto for a new typographic order