When Herbert Bayer introduced his typeface Universal in 1925, he had a motive that was unlike previous typographic design practices before him. Bayer designed Universal to not only be mass produced, available and convenient for the general public, but also for reasons that today we would consider sustainable design. Unlike the bold, blocky headline fonts that had come before Universal, Bayer’s typeface was thinner than most other fonts in general, but also in key areas, such as thinner m and w letters, thus allowing more words on a page, and in Bayer’s vision, conserving resources such as paper and ink. This was all part of Bayer’s typographic manifesto that went to such extremes as altering the alphabet to be more streamlined and using all lowercase letters. The latter was strictly Bayer’s aesthetic and philosophy, but the former was also with the idea that a streamlined alphabet, along with a thin, utilitarian typeface would conserve paper and printing energy.
More on Bayer and his radical ideas, most of which had nothing to do with sustainability.
http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1975/?id=281
It seems that thinner and sleeker fits in with sustainability a lot. Wasn't there an alphabet created that involved only six or seven shapes that could be made into any letters?
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting that when they were focusing more on just changing the normal rules of everything that the typeface was created and became part of an environmental responsibility as well. Do you think that if and when many newspapers turn completely digital and they no longer have to worry about being environmentally responsible that the typeface design will change again?
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