Erik Spiekermann
Erik Spiekermann, born in 1947, studied Art History and English at the Free University of Berlin. He is an information architect, type designer (FF Meta, ITC Officina, FF Info, FF Unit, LoType, and Berliner Grotesk plus many exclusive corporate typefaces), and the author of books, articles, and regularly appearing columns on type, typography, and other cultural issues for magazines such as Blueprint in the UK and Form in Germany.
After spending the 1970s in London, teaching at the London College of Printing, and working for Filmcomposition, Wolff Olins, and other consultancies, he returned to Berlin in 1979 and started MetaDesign, Germany’s largest design firm, with offices in Berlin, London, and San Francisco. Projects included corporate design programs for Audi, Skoda, Volkswagen, Heidelberg Printing, Berlin Transit, The City of Berlin, Düsseldorf Airport, and many other clients. In 1988 he started FontShop, a company for the production and distribution of electronic fonts. He holds an honorary professorship at the Academy of Arts in Bremen, is a board member of the German Design Council, and past president of the International Society of Typographic Designers as well as the International Institute for Information Design. In 2003 he received the Gerrit Noordzij Award from the Royal Academy in The Hague and an honorary doctorate from the Pasadena Art Center. He is Honorary Royal Designer for Industry in Britain. In 2009 he was Ambassador for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation for the European Union.
In 2001, Spiekermann redesigned the magazine The Economist (London). His book for Adobe Press, Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works, was issued in a second edition in 2002, as well as in German, Russian, and Portuguese versions. About his FontBook (with Mai-Linh Thi Truong and Jürgen Siebert), issued in its fourth edition in 2006, he says: “If I do say so myself—I helped compile and design it—it’s the largest and best-researched printed compendium of digital type. I use it every day.” His corporate font family for Nokia was released in 2002 and a large system of exclusive typefaces for Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) was introduced in 2005. DB Type was awarded the 2006 Gold Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany. The award jury praised the company’s new type system as a “masterpiece to further information culture in Germany,” saying that the type system enables both an “updated, refined brand image” as well as “easier intake of information for customers, due to the different usage of the many weights, from signage to advertising.” Its “excellent functionality and refined appearance are a welcome improvement to everyday German culture.”
Spiekermann left MetaDesign in 2001 over policy disagreements and started SpiekermannPartners with offices in Berlin, London, and San Francisco. Clients include Bosch, Deutsche Bahn, The Economist, Pioneer Investment, Cisco Systems, Gravis, Messe Frankfurt, Nokia, ZDF German TV, Berlin Philharmonic, The American Academy Berlin, Tcho Chocolate San Francisco, and Birkhäuser Verlag Basel.
SpiekermannPartners merged with Eden Design in Amsterdam in 2009 and the combined company is now called Edenspiekermann.
In June 2011, Erik Spiekermann received the 25th Type Directors Club Medal, given to those who have made significant contributions to the life, art, and craft of typography. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2011 from the German Design Council, the highest design award in Germany.
Contributed Articles
Announcements
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Edited by Michael Merrill
Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
Published: October 2021
The first in-depth study of drawings as primary sources of insight into architect Louis Kahn’s architecture and creative imagination. Based on unprecedented archival research, with over 900 illustrations and written contributions by Michael Benedikt, Michael Cadwell, David Leatherbarrow, Louis Kahn, Nathaniel Kahn, Sue Ann Kahn, Michael J. Lewis, Robert McCarter, Michael Merrill, Marshall Meyers, Jane Murphy, Gina Pollara, Harriet Pattison, Colin Rowe, David Van Zanten, Richard Wesley, and William Whitaker.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Forthcoming: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Forthcoming May 25, 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
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Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
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