Bauhaus (typeface)

The Bauhaus typeface design is based on Herbert Bayer's 1925 experimental Universal typeface.

Contents

Blippo

Blippo was designed by Joe Taylor for Fotostar in 1969 as a black version of Burko Bold, which itself is based on the unfinished design by the German Bauhaus school. The font was named Blippo Black by Joe's boss, Robert Trogmann.[1] It retains proportion and fit of ITC Ronda.

Bauhaus 93

It is a variant of URW Blippo Black. Only 1 font was produced.

ITC Ronda

It was designed by Herb Lubalin in 1970. It adds lower case letters to the family.

Distinguishing characteristics include the shapes of the upper right third of the capital B, P and R as well as the half-circle form of the descender of the Q. ITC Ronda is similar to Michael Neugebauer's Litera; both fonts display styles characteristic of the Bauhaus' work.

ITC Bauhaus

ITC Bauhaus was designed by Edward Benguiat and Victor Caruso in 1975. Inheriting the simple geometric shapes and monotone stroke weights of Herbert Bayer's universal, it includes separate upper and lower case characters. 5 weights of roman fonts were made for this family. Unlike the earlier ITC Ronda, it includes open end stroke at places where counters would be created.

Bauhaus Heavy was originally intended to be a display-only design and was accompanied by Bauhaus Outline. With the advent of digital technology, the Outline version was dropped from the family, while the Bauhaus Heavy was made part of the now text/display offering.

Under Adobe's development, the font family supports ISO-Adobe character set for the PostScript version. In OpenType Std version, it supports Adobe Western 2 character set.

Monotype also sold versions that includes Cyrillic or Central European characters.

The font was also named 'Geometric 752' by Bitstream, 'BH' by Itek.

Usages

The font is used in the credits for such TV shows as The Jeffersons and Roseanne, the late 1970s logo for Filmways, and the now-defunct Bamberger's department store chain.

This font was used in interior and exterior signage at the Polynesian Resort in Walt Disney World, until recent refurbishments (there may be a few of these signs, featuring this font still present throughout the resort).

The Internet cartoon Homestar Runner often uses Bauhaus in its titles and menu options. It is also used in the Playmobil brand toys.

A version of Bauhaus with lowercase characters was used for the second series text-only labels and black background picture labels on Atari Video Computer System cartridges.

More notably, the font is currently used by Las Vegas based indie-rock band, The Killers. It has appeared on the cover art of all four studio albums, as well as their compilation album; Sawdust, and live album Live From The Royal Albert Hall. The font is used during performances also, being visible on backdrops and bass drums often.

External links