Erik Spiekermann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Specimens of typefaces by Erik Spiekermann.
Specimens of typefaces by Erik Spiekermann.

Erik Spiekermann (born May 30, 1947) is a German typographer and designer. He is a professor at the University of the Arts Bremen.

Spiekermann studied art history at Berlin's Free University, funding himself by running a hot metal printing press in the basement of his house.[citation needed]

Between 1972 and 1979 , he worked as a freelance graphic designer in London before returning to Berlin and founding MetaDesign with two partners.

In 1989 he and his wife, Joan Spiekermann, started FontShop, the first mail-order distributor for digital fonts. FontShop International followed and now publishes the FontFont range of typefaces. MetaDesign combined clean, teutonic-looking information design and complex corporate design systems for clients like BVG (Berlin Transit), Duesseldorf Airport, Audi, Volkswagen and Heidelberg Printing, amongst others.

In 2001 Spiekermann left MetaDesign over policy disagreements and started UDN | United Designers Networks with offices in Berlin, London and San Francisco.

In April 2006, the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena awarded Spiekermann an Honorary Doctorship for his contribution to design.[1] His family of typefaces for Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), designed with Christian Schwartz, received a Gold Medal at the German Federal Design Prize in 2006, the highest such award in Germany.[1]

As of January 2007, UDN has been renamed SpiekermannPartners.

Contents

[edit] Notable works

Spiekermann has designed the FF Meta typeface as well as Berliner Grotesk BQ, FF Info Display, FF Info Office, FF Info Text, FF Meta Boiled, FF Meta Condensed, FF Meta Correspondence, FF Meta Subnormal, ITC Officina Display, ITC Officina Sans, ITC Officina Serif, FF Unit and several other typefaces as parts of corporate design programmes.[2]

Spiekermann co-authored Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works. He also participated in the creation of numerous corporate identities and other works, including redesigns of the publications The Economist and Reason.[3]

[edit] Awards

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Erik Spiekermann. EDAwards (2006). Retrieved on 2007-08-02.
  2. ^ http://www.myfonts.com/person/spiekermann/erik/
  3. ^ Fost, Dan. "Wired founder helps Reason", San Francisco Chronicle, November 14, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-08-02. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Erik Spiekermann, E. M. Ginger: Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works, Adobe Press, 2002. ISBN 0-201-70339-4
  • Erik Spiekermann: ÜberSchrift, Hermann Schmidt Mainz, 2004, ISBN 3-87439-661-4
  • Erik Spiekermann, Jan Middendorp, Made with FontFont, BIS Publishers, 2006, ISBN 90-6369-129-7
  • Erik Spiekermann et al, FontBook, FSI Berlin, 2006
  • Fay Sweet: MetaDesign: Design from the Word Up, Thames and Hudson, 1999. ISBN 0-500-01963-0
  • Erik Spiekermann, M. Klein, Y. Schwemmer-Scheddin: Type and Typographers, Phaidon Press, 1991. ISBN 1-85454-848-4

[edit] External links