The Bauhaus school sought to modernize, unify and standardize design into an idealistic form that would combine function with aesthetics.

Contrary to their current perception, in its early years, the Bauhaus school printed serif art nouveau typefaces.

After some years of design work at the school, Herbert Bayer and Joost Schmidt created the more recognizable proposals—sans-serif geometric letterings, with decorative elements of the font removed for a crisp industrial style.

In that era, they would only be drafts, and were not manufactured into printing typefaces yet,[1] although they were used for signs, book covers and publications by the Bauhaus.

[2] Major elements of Bauhaus typography in Bayer's original form were the elimination of capital letters, composition based on strong geometrical elements and expressive use of colors, and the replacement of the Gothic font by a more cosmopolitan font suitable for the move from handcrafted to standardized production.

Inheriting the simple geometric shapes and monotone stroke weights of Herbert Bayer's universal, it includes separate upper and lowercase characters.

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.

[12] Additional Bauhaus typefaces in digital fonts include Joost, Julien, Mohol Type, Laslo, Nobel revival, and Pareto.