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.Fact|date=June 2007

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.cite web | url = http://www.ed-awards.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=186&Itemid=407 | title = Erik Spiekermann | publisher = EDAwards | year = 2006 | accessdate = 2007-08-02] 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.

As of January 2007, UDN has been renamed SpiekermannPartners.

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. [ [http://www.myfonts.com/person/spiekermann/erik/ Erik Spiekermann : MyFonts ] ]

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". [cite news | url = http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/14/BU235867.DTL | title = Wired founder helps Reason | last = Fost | first = Dan | date = November 14 2001 | accessdate = 2007-08-02 | work = San Francisco Chronicle]

Awards

*2003 - Gerrit Noordzij Prize
*German Design Award
*2007 - European Designers Hall of Fame
*2007 - Honorary Royal Designer for Industry, Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, London

ee also

* First Things First 2000 manifesto
* "Emigre" , 1999. [http://www.emigre.com/EMag.php?issue=51 Issue 51]

References

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

External links

* [http://www.spiekermann.com/ Erik Spiekermann's blog]
* [http://www.uniteddesigners.com/ SpiekermannPartners]
* [http://www.spiekermann.com/mten/downloads/spiekerbio_de%2Ben_0107.pdf Short autobiography/CV] - pdf, bilingual German/English
* Erik Spiekermann appears in the documentary [http://helveticafilm.com/ "Helvetica"]