ver since the Bauhaus, publicity has been an integral part of art and architecture school. This can take many forms, from analogue events such as lectures and exhibitions to a ubiquitous social media presence. But between all these, books and magazines are mainstays. The Bauhaus was certainly not the first art and architecture school to bring out its own publications. The Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) in London, for instance, started publishing long before the Bauhaus even existed. In France, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand and Julien Guadet published their architecture courses as professors at French Écoles, but this was never part of a deliberate branding strategy like that so cleverly applied by the Bauhaus.
A standard for branding
More than any other school, the Bauhaus defined the standard for a branding strategy that continues to resonate and implicitly remains a benchmark for how schools can position themselves. In its short-lived existence, the Bauhaus branded itself in many ways: through its name, its building, its name on the building, the typography of the name on the building, its pedagogy, the art and design work of its teachers and students, its exhibitions and lectures. But nothing beats the school's print publications: the Bauhaus Books series and the journal "bauhaus. Later, the journal's subtitle was changed to "zeitschrift für gestaltung" (journal for design).
In 1925, a year before the completion of the new Bauhaus building in Dessau, the Munich-based publishing house Albert Langen issued the first of the Bauhausbücher, produced under the editorial direction of Walter Gropius and László Moholy-Nagy, who was also responsible for their graphic design. Fourteen Bauhausbücher were released between 1925 and 1929, all in German, the first one being Gropius's "Internationale Architektur" (International Architecture), the final one Moholy-Nagy's "Von Material zu Architektur" (From Material to Architecture). During the four years of publications, at least another two dozen books were announced, but did not materialize.
Magazine communication
In 1926, Gropius and Moholy-Nagy also created the "bauhaus" journal, which they edited until mid-1928. The first issue, which consisted of a six-page booklet (in the recently codified DIN A4 format), coincided with the official opening of the Bauhaus in Dessau; Gropius and Moholy-Nagy passed on the editorial direction to Hannes Meyer and Ernst Kállai. In 1931, the journal reappeared with three final issues in a frugal form, edited by Ludwig Hilberseimer, Josef Albers and Wassily Kandinsky, respectively. The bauhaus zeitschrift für gestaltung and the Bauhausbücher reflect the spirit of school - its subject matter, graphic design and combination of missionary idealism with the uncompromising pragmatism of functionalism.
Missionary idealism
The books and the journal issues were often self-referential, speaking of nothing but the Bauhaus, its pedagogy and the work of its teachers and its students. Perhaps the most self-referential of all is the cover of the first bauhaus magazine issue from 1928, which was the last produced under the direction of Gropius and Moholy-Nagy. It was designed by Herbert Bayer, who also developed the typeface used for the letters spelling out the Bauhaus name on the building. The front cover is a photo composition, with the folded cover of the second issue of 1927 under four white volumes casting their shadow. There is no title on the actual cover, but the "bauhaus" title from the photographed cover is legible under the transparent set square. The cube and sphere conceal the issue number and year of the old cover; the new cover omits this information in daring neglect of one of the basic rules of magazine making.
While the front cover depicting a previous cover is a striking example of self-referentiality, so is the back cover. This is the first issue that contains advertisements and the back cover is a diagrammatic explanation of possible sizes and ad fees. The text in this diagram, which advertises the options to advertise in bauhaus, mentions that the graphic design of ads must be approved by the editors to ensure that they are not misplaced in the magazine.
Gropius and Moholy-Nagy's concern for visual identity is understandable - because despite all functionalist overtones, the branding of the Bauhaus relied as much on appearances as content; as much on its building as what was happening inside of it.
Media identity
Consistent identity across all media is an idée reçue for art and architecture schools today, and even if there is not always a conscious and direct link with the Bauhaus, it can be considered the original source and avant-garde of contemporary branding strategies. Particularly for schools that are recent arrivals and trying to carve out their own niche, a visual identity is a requisite. Even recent schools with a completely different teaching approach and world view, such as the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York (IAUS), which existed from 1967 to 1985, or the now ten-year-old Strelka Institute in Moscow, follow in this respect in the footsteps of the Bauhaus. IAUS's two magazines, "Oppositions" and "Skyline" as well as its book series, including the English translation of Aldo Rossi's "L'architettura della città", had a template not unlike bauhaus and the Bauhaus Books. Just like these, the publications of IAUS had a distinctive graphic identity, thanks to Massimo Vignelli, who was responsible for the art direction starting in 1973. According to Kim Förster, the "graphic identity that Vignelli created influenced how the Institute presented itself and how it was perceived." (Kim Förster, 'Massimo Vignelli: Oppositions, Skyline and the Institute', Places Journal, September 2010, doi.org/10.22269/100916.)
Communicating with e-books
Similarly, the Strelka Institute is a recent example of an institution that presents its publication programme front and centre on the home page of their website. A sign of the time, the books are e-books and printed on demand, just as the school's magazine is digital only, and part of the Strelka website. In this respect, Strelka is totally in tune with the time.
Responsible for their graphic design is OK-RM, the office of Oliver Knight & Rory McGrath, who developed, in their own words, a “comprehensive brand identity and creative direction for the pioneering institute.” Part of this endeavour is their book design for Strelka Press, which they describe as "a radical publishing house for original writing on architecture, design and the city" offering “a new platform for long-form writing in the shape of short e-books that give readers instant access at affordable prices. The mission is to support critical writing but also to be a disruptive force in publishing itself, pioneering digital formats and a fairer publishing model for authors.”
Using the latest technologies, combined with a wish to make its products accessible to a large audience, and its iconoclastic ambition to get rid of the old order - it is hard not to interpret this as an echo of the Bauhaus ethos, and an indication that the German school's novelty has not yet worn off.
