Architype Albers is a modular stencil

sans-serif In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif (), gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than ...

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

based upon a series of experiments between 1926 and 1931 by

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

(1888–1976), German designer, educator and typographer. The Architype Albers typeface is one of a collection of several revivals of early twentieth century typographic experimentation designed by

Freda Sack Freda Sack (born 23 September 1951, died 13 February 2019) was a British type designer who began her career at Letraset in 1972, joining as a photographic retoucher. Colleagues attest to her skill at cutting letters from rubylith at Letraset where ...

and David Quay of The Foundry. Albers studied art in Berlin,

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

, and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

before enrolling as a student at the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

in 1920. He began teaching in the preliminary course of the Department of Design in 1922, and was promoted to professor in 1925, the year the Bauhaus moved to

Dessau Dessau is a district of the independent city of Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the ''States of Germany, Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Until 1 July 2007, it was an independent ...

. He taught there until the school was closed by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1933. Albers designed a series of stencil faces while teaching at the Dessau Bauhaus. The typeface is based on a limited palette of geometric forms combined in a size ratio of 1:3. Drawn on a grid, the elements of square, triangle, and circle combine to form letters with an economy of form. Never intended for text, the face was designed for use on posters and in large-scale signs.

References

*Blackwell, Lewis. ''20th Century Type''.

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

: 2004. . *Fleischmann, Gerd. ''Bauhaus Typographie''. Oktagon Stuttgart: 1995. . *Haley, Allen. ''Type: Hot Designers Make Cool Fonts''. Rockport Publishers Inc, Gloucester; 1998. {{ISBN, 1-56496-317-9

External links

Architype 2 typesthe Josef and Anni Albers Foundation website
Geometric sans-serif typefaces

See also

References

External links