The term 'Digital Bauhaus' was first used by Pelle Ehn of the Creative Environments Platform, at Malmö University, Sweden to describe an approach to the design of digital artefacts that was formed around the objectives of the original Bauhaus. Ehn's article, 'A manifesto for a Digital Bauhaus' was published in Digital Creativity 9(4) 207–217.

Colin Beardon published a response to Ehn's Manifesto in 2002. Entitled 'The Digital Bauhaus: aesthetics, politics and technology', it was published in Digital Creativity 14(3)   169-179.

In this paper, three ideas are developed with reference to both the historyof the original Bauhaus and contemporary issues. The first concerns a digital aesthetics or style and particularly how we can transcend the simple geometry typical of Bauhaus products. The second concerns the difficulties of genuine collaboration between the creative arts and technology. The third concerns the ethical and political responsibility of design in creating an environment that shapes the lives of others. In this, there is a need to go beyond the materialism of the Bauhaus period and to replace it with the idea of sustainability. The virtuality inherent in digital technologies makes this a distinct possibility.