Economy of Design, Bauhaus, and Sustainability

The Bauhaus embraced the economy of design. They felt that design should be at the same time functional, innovative, durable, and aesthetic. They believed in establishing standards for design, and integrating all the parts to develop a condition where the sum of the whole is greater than the parts. The Bauhaus felt that this was the approach required to achieve a synergy in design.

From a conceptual standpoint, all this implies a certain desire to achieve efficiency. Efficiency is favorable to sustainability. Minimalism, by its very definition, is also favorable to sustainability, in that resources are kept in reserve and not exploited to the point of overuse. In contrast, excess leads to conditions that are unsustainable. Therefore, the Bauhaus, by promoting the economy of design, also promoted sustainable environments.

The Bauhaus' Sustainable Typeface

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