5 Font Designers’ short Bio. / Current
1. Zuzana Licko : Born 1961 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Currently residing in Berkeley, California, USA. She graduated from Berkeley with a degree in graphic communication, but with no formal training in typeface design. Because of her lack of training, she was not hindered by preconceived ideas or guidelines. This allowed her to develop innovative designs such as Émigré, Emperor, Oakland, and Universal (now bundled and remastered as Lo-Res).
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
2. Erik Spiekermann: Born 1947 in Stadhagen, Germany. Currently working in Berlin, Germany and San Francisco, California, USA. He ran his own printing press out of his basement in order to fund his studies . He established MetaDesign (Berlin 1979), expanding to San Francisco in 1992, and to London in 1995. Erik Spiekermann also established FontShop International with his wife Joan Spiekermann in 1989. They later partnered with Neville Brody to launch FontFont. FontFont is a library of typefaces including Erik’s FF Meta. Some typefaces he designed are: ITC Officiana, FF Info and FF Unit. He also wrote a book called Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out Type Works.
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
3. Oded Ezer: Born 1972 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Currently in Givatayim, Israel. He divides his time between logo design, typeface design and typographic art. Most of his work is in Hebrew. He is drawn to the connotations of letters, and in their history. His experimental work comes to life more by hand, than with the computer. His focus is more on emotion/ art than on legibility.
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
4. Herman Zapf: Born 1918 in Germany. Taught himself calligraphy and lettering through Rudolf Koch’s Das Schreiben als Kunstfertigkeit and Edward Johnston’s Writing & Illumination & Lettering. He designed his first typeface , called Gilgengart, in 1938. He also designed the typefaces Palantino (1950); Optima (1952); and Zapfino (1998). Herman Zapf is one of the few designers to produce designs in metal, phototypesetting, and computer.
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
5. Matthew Carter: Born 1937 in London, England. Experienced ith metal type, phototype, and digital type. Before moving to New York, he spent six years as a freelance typemaker and later as a type designer. Back in London in 1971, he continued to freelance and producing typefaces, one being Bell Centennial. Seeing the potential in the sale of type, Carter and three colleagues established Bitstream. Later, he designed Verdana for Microsoft, a variable type family for the Walker Art Center, and a proprietary serif for Yale University. He is known for his commitment to helping others through official, and unofficial, critiques.
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
5 Font Designers’ short Bio. / Past
1. Firmin Didot: 1764-1836, France. Was a third generation of the Didot family, who had roots in printing and publishing as far back as the mid eighteenth century. In 1784, Firmin Didot designed Didot. When designing this, he strived for a cleaner more legible solution to the current era’s handlettering and calligraphic characteristics. This marked the beginning of the modern style, and became the French standard for more than a century.
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
2. Morris Fuller Benton: 1872-1948, USA. In 1896 he went to work at the American Type Founders, the company his father established in 1892. Morris Fuller Benton designed over 200 typefaces, including many extension of already existing typefaces to create type families such as Cheltenham (1902). He designed the typeface Franklin Gothic (1902-1912), released it in 1902 and continued to add several weights and widths to the family over the next ten years. Franklin Gothic became a popular advertising choice. Some of his other typefaces are: Engravers Old English (1907), Hobo (1910), Broadway (1928), and Bank Gothic (1930).
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
3. Frederic W. Goudy: 1865-1947, USA. He designed more than 100 typefaces, ranging from sans serif to black letters. He taught at the Franklin Holme School of Illustration. W.A. Dwiggins and Oswald Bruce Cooper were among his students. His most noted typefaces are Copperplate Gothic (1901),Goudy Old Style (1916), and Goudy Text (1928). Copperplate Gothic is considered a sans serif. However, it contains some of the finest, sharpest, tiniest serifs. It was designed in all caps, and was intended for personal stationary. Copperplate Gothic is readable in small sizes and longer bodies of text because of its wide structure.
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
4. Claude Garamond: 1480-1561, France. He was one of the first punch cutters to work independently and sell his fonts to printers. He is known for his design of Garamond (15th and 16th centuries). Many revivals have followed. Some good, and some not so good.
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
5. Eric Gill : 1882-1940, UK. Not only was he a typeface designer, he was also a sculptor, engraver and lettercutter. Perpetua (1925) was his first typeface. It was commissioned by Stanley Morison. He also created Gill Sans(1927) , which was based on Johnston Sans. Gill Sans was designed for the Monotype Corporation. Gill Sans became vastly used in England.
Referenced: Graphic Design Reference by,Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
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