The Constructivists
Constructivism affected typography in the area of alphabet design as well as in the practice of layout and typesetting.
Kurt Schwitters: advertisement, 1927
Just as the historical content of art was being questioned and replaced by new ideas, the Constructivist typeface concept was an experimental rethinking of Latin letter forms. The alphabets of Strzeminski, Albers, Schwitters, Tschichold or Bayer consisted of horizontal and vertical strokes, the two diagonals and the circle, and renounced decoration as unnecessary. No trace of personal handwriting or influence should come through in the forms. And so the 1920s prepared the way for the machine-readable typefaces of the 1960s as well as the even more modern screen types.
Josef Albers: stencil type
Herbert Bayer: universal alphabet, 1925
Kurt Schwitters: advertisement, 1927
Just as the historical content of art was being questioned and replaced by new ideas, the Constructivist typeface concept was an experimental rethinking of Latin letter forms. The alphabets of Strzeminski, Albers, Schwitters, Tschichold or Bayer consisted of horizontal and vertical strokes, the two diagonals and the circle, and renounced decoration as unnecessary. No trace of personal handwriting or influence should come through in the forms. And so the 1920s prepared the way for the machine-readable typefaces of the 1960s as well as the even more modern screen types.
Josef Albers: stencil type
Herbert Bayer: universal alphabet, 1925
Take a look at a selection of typefaces with an constructivist origin, offered by Linotype:
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