Julian Waters (calligrapher)

Julian Waters (born 1957) is a calligrapher, type designer and teacher. He was born in Hampshire, England and is the son of calligrapher Sheila Waters and book binder/conservator Peter Waters.

Starting in 1979 Waters studied with legendary German type designer Hermann Zapf, who in 1984 asked the 27 year old Julian to substitute and teach his two-week masterclass at Rochester Institute of Technology. Waters succeeded Zapf in 1989. In the 1990s Waters combined the hand and computer, teaching “Letterform Design” for 2nd year Graphic Design students at the Corcoran School of Art, Washington DC. . Since 1978 he has taught specialized seminars on lettering and design attended by calligraphers and graphic designer all over U.S.A, Canada, Asia and Europe and has taught and lectured at institutions including Cooper Union, NY, Sunderland University and Imperial College, London. In 2006 Waters was the keynote speaker at the international Letterforum conference at James Madison University.

In 1981-82 Waters worked with Gerard Valerio at Bookmark Studio in Washington DC, specializing in logos, books and publication design. In 1984 he opened his own studio in Capitol Hill and later moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland. Waters' work includes logos, posters, CD packaging, titling for books and publications. He has worked with design studios, publishers and ad agencies on projects requiring lettering design. Waters produced lettering for books, posters and stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, including “Bill of Rights” and "Presidential Libraries" stamp, “Love” envelope and “Legends of American Music” series. Julian has designed titling lettering for National Geographic Magazine for over 20 years. He is the only lettering designer to have been featured in a "Behind the Scenes" full page photo profile in the Magazine (late 1999). Waters work is represented in many books on calligraphy and type, and he has received awards for the Type Directors Club, Art Directors Club, Print Magazine, Letter Arts Review Annual. Waters has been a juror for several international design and calligraphy exhibitions and annuals. Waters was the 1997 Rubenstein Memorial Guest Artist at the Sidwell Friends School, Washington DC.

He has been featured on TV in the U.S. and Europe, including the Emmy Award-winning segment entitled “Man of Letters”, on the Sunday morning magazine show, "Capital Edition," 1989. Waters' logo designs include "Amtrak Vacations". "Pfizer 150", "Visaphone" and "MCI WorldPhone". Other diverse projects include custom lettering design for Barry Moser's acclaimed limited edition Pennyroyal Caxton Bible, including raised gold leaf work on 50 special copies. Waters was a typographic advisor to Maya Lin during the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. He was the typographic designer for the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington Cemetery and lettering & typography designer for the Visitors' Center at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. In 1997 Adobe Systems released his new Multiple Master typeface, "Waters Titling". He has also designed custom corporate alphabets for Host Marriott Services, Shared Vision and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.