During his stay at the Bauhaus where Joseph Albers was practicing Abstract Painting, Photography, Graphic and Product design, he also made a typeface. His Kombinationschrift alphabets were an attempt to construct the entire alphabet with as little elements as possible.

For Albers neue I took this idea and made it complex again. The same 10 elements were used to break the vertical stress in the Kombinationschrift. Where he used the elements only vertically, here they also serve a horizontal function.

There are two versions: the Regular looks like many other constructed typefaces, whilst Elements reveals the origin of the Kombinationschrift. After setting the design in Regular, the designer has to switch to the other version, make an outline of it and then release the compound path. Then — just as Albers throughout his career — you can start experimenting with color.

weights: Regular & Elements | date: 2009 | format: Opentype | state: unpublished