Even the name of Herbert Bayer's Research in Development of Universal Type (1927), a specimen of his lowercase, sans-serif, geometric typeface, suggests his ambitions for a new kind of script: one with a simplicity, versatility, and optical clarity that would recommend it for all applications. Markings on the object itself-pencil guides, indentations from the compass point used to trace its forms, collaged corrections to two letters, and Bayer's own annotations—attest to the artist's constructive and iterative process. While no formal workshop for graphic design existed in Weimar, Bauhaus master László Moholy-Nagy and students like Bayer and Joost Schmidt experimented with typography and advertising techniques and designed promotional material and publications for the school. Their efforts, which built on the typographic influences of Dadaism, constructivism, and De Stijl, exemplified the so-called New Typography, as described by Moholy-Nagy in 1923. When the school moved to Dessau in 1925, Bayer, who had been a student of the school, became an instructor and head of the newly formed printing and advertising workshop (Drück und Reklamewerkstatt), focused on designing publicity for both outside clients and the Bauhaus itself. Also in 1925, Moholy-Nagy began designing the "Bauhaus Books" (Bauhaus Bücher), a series of 14 volumes, with more planned, that published work by artists both within the school and in its orbit (Moholy-Nagy and Gropius co-edited the series). Under the school's second director, Hannes Meyer, Schmidt came to direct the printing and advertising workshop, which took on an emphasis in exhibition design and commercial applications; in 1929, a new photography class taught by Walter Peterhans was added to the program, oriented toward product photography.

The Busch-Reisinger has especially strong holdings of Bayer's work, donated by the artist, including posters, fliers, invitations, Bauhaus sales materials (in particular the Musterkatalog), and his fanciful designs in gouache for advertising pavilions. Josef Albers also donated one of Bayer's post-Bauhaus pamphlets, designed for an exhibition mounted by the Nazi government. Printed matter by Moholy-Nagy includes advertisements for the "Bauhaus Books" series, several examples of the books themselves, and a nearly complete run of the school's journal, Bauhaus: Zeitschrift für Gestaltung. The museum also holds a pamphlet by Joost Schmidt advertising the city of Dessau, and one by former Bauhaus student Xanti Schawinsky for the city of Magdeburg.