Herbert Bayer (1900-1985)
Born near Salzburg and apprenticed to an architect, Bayer went on to become one of the most influential figures in 20th century graphic design. He enrolled at the Bauhaus in Weimar and became one of its foremost figures.
He almost single-handedly created Bauhaus typography, which favoured sans serif types. For Bayer, the sans serif "reflected the notion of beauty in utility" - the heart of the Bauhaus philosophy. He argued in favour of using a single alphabet and began to abandon the capital letter. Goebbels turned down at least one of Bayer's designs for being "too modern". In 1938, he fled the Nazis and went to the USA where he began a period of extensive use of photo-montage.
"Why should we write and print in two separate alphabets? We do not speak a capital A and a small a."
[NOM]
