Erik Spiekermann
Erik Spiekermann | |
|---|---|
 Erik Spiekermann in 2020 | |
| Born | May 30, 1947 |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation(s) | typographer, designer and writer |
Erik Spiekermann(born 30 May 1947) is a Germantypographer,designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at theUniversity of the Arts BremenandArtCenter College of Design.
Biography
[edit]Spiekermann studiedart historyatBerlin'sFree University,funding himself by running aletterpressprinting pressin the basement of his house.[1]
Between 1972 and 1979, he worked as a freelancegraphic designerinLondonbefore returning to Berlin and foundingMetaDesignwith two partners.
In 1989, he and his then-wife Joan Spiekermann startedFontShop,the first mail-order distributor for digital fonts.FontShop Internationalfollowed and now publishes theFontFontrange of typefaces. MetaDesign combined clean, teutonic-looking information design and complex corporate design systems for clients like BVG (Berlin Transit), Düsseldorf Airport, Audi, Volkswagen and Heidelberg Printing, amongst others.
In 2001, Spiekermann left MetaDesign over policy disagreements and started United Designers Network, with offices in Berlin, London, and San Francisco.
In April 2006, theArt Center College of Designin Pasadena awarded Spiekermann an Honorary Doctorship for his contribution to design.[2]His family of typefaces for Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), designed withChristian Schwartz,received a Gold Medal at the German Federal Design Prize in 2006, the highest such award in Germany.[2]In May 2007, he was the first designer to be elected into theEuropean Design AwardsHall of Fame.[3]
In January 2007, UDN was renamed SpiekermannPartners. In January 2009, SpiekermannPartners merged with Dutch design agency Eden Design & Communication and continued its operations under the name Edenspiekermann.[4]Edenspiekermann currently run offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He now runs an experimental letterpress workshop in Berlin, Hacking Gutenberg ( hackinggutenberg.berlin)
Spiekermann is considered a very influential personality in the field of typeface design and information design.[5]He often attends international meetings, and has been giving a substantial contribution in several fields, such as app development and public wayfinding.[6][7][8]
Notable works
[edit]
Spiekermann has designed many commercialtypefacesas well as typefaces as part of corporate design programmes.[9][10]
- Berliner Grotesk(original is from 1913, digitization is from c. 1978)
- Lo-Type(original is from 1911/14, digitization is from 1980)
- ITC Officina Sans(1990)
- ITC Officina Serif(1990)
- FF Meta(1991–1998)
- FF Govan (2001)
- FF Info (2000)
- Nokia Sans (2002-2011, corporate typeface forNokiaand the default UI font forSymbian S60smartphones)[11]
- FF Unit (2003)
- FF Meta Serif (withChristian SchwartzandKris Sowersby,2007)
- FF Unit Slab (with Christian Schwartz and Kris Sowersby, 2009)
- Fira Sans(designed in collaboration with Ralph du Carrois)[12]forFirefox OS,released in 2013 under theSIL Open Font License)
- FF Real (with Anja Meiners and Ralph du Carrois, 2011)
- Case, Case Text, Case Micro (with Anja Meiners and Ralph du Carrois, 2020)[13]
Spiekermann co-authoredStop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works.He also participated in the creation of numerous corporate identities and other works, including redesigns of the publicationsThe EconomistandReason.[14]
Spiekermann also appeared in thedocumentaryHelvetica.
Awards
[edit]- 2003 –Gerrit Noordzij Prize
- 2006 –German Design Award
- 2007 –European Design AwardsHall of Fame
- 2007 –Honorary Royal Designer for Industry,Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce,London
- 2011 – Lifetime achievement award from German Design Prize[15]
- 2011 – TCD Medal Lifetime Award
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"ATypI".Archived fromthe originalon 2010-02-26.Retrieved2009-08-18.
- ^ab"Erik Spiekermann".EDAwards.2007. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-06-26.Retrieved2007-08-02.
- ^"Identifont - Erik Spiekermann".identifont.
- ^Official press releaseArchived2008-12-21 at theWayback Machine
- ^"Erik Spiekermann".European Design Awards. 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-03-12.Retrieved2017-04-20.
- ^UrbanAge (15 January 2013)."Urban Age Electric City: Erik Spiekermann - Mapping and designing urban systems".Archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
- ^"City of Amsterdam – Edenspiekermann".edenspiekermann.
- ^"Info Connectivity System – Edenspiekermann".edenspiekermann.
- ^"Erik Spiekermann « MyFonts".myfonts.Archived fromthe originalon 2008-05-09.Retrieved2008-04-06.
- ^"FontShop".FontShop.
- ^"Nokia sans character - Spiekerblog".spiekermann.
- ^"Fira Sans".Typografie.info.20 July 2013.
- ^"Case".Fontwerk.
- ^Fost, Dan (November 14, 2001)."Wired founder helps Reason".San Francisco Chronicle.Retrieved2007-08-02.
- ^"ICOGRADA | Prof. Erik Spiekermann receives Lifetime Achievement Award at the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2011".Archived fromthe originalon 2011-02-22.Retrieved2011-02-22.
Further reading
[edit]- Erik Spiekermann, E. M. Ginger:Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works,third edition, Adobe Press, 2013,ISBN978-0321934284.
- Erik Spiekermann:ÜberSchrift,Hermann Schmidt Mainz, 2004,ISBN3-87439-661-4.
- Erik Spiekermann, Jan Middendorp,Made with FontFont,BIS Publishers, 2006,ISBN90-6369-129-7.
- Erik Spiekermann et al.,FontBook,FontShop International Berlin, 2006.
- Fay Sweet:MetaDesign: Design from the Word Up,Thames and Hudson, 1999.ISBN0-500-01963-0.
- Erik Spiekermann, M. Klein, Y. Schwemmer-Scheddin:Type and Typographers,Phaidon Press, 1991.ISBN1-85454-848-4.
- Emigre51: First Things First,1999.Issue 51
- Erler, J.,Hello I am Erik. Erik Spiekermann: typographer, designer, entrepreneur,Die Gestalten Verlag, 2014.ISBN978-3-89955-519-6.
External links
[edit]
- Erik Spiekermann’s blog
- Edenspiekermann
- letterpress workshop
- Biography and list of Spiekermann’s typefaces on FontFont
- Erik Spiekermann appears in the documentaryHelvetica[1]
- Postage stamps designed by Erik Spiekermann
- Erik Spiekermann on Workspiration– quick interview about work
