Erik Spiekermann

Part A
Erik Spiekermann, a designer, information architect, and writer, is best known as founder of MetaDesign and FontShop, not to mention his numerous typefaces. Spiekermann was born on May 30, 1947 in Stadthagen. Even at a young age, he was attracted to type, an aspect in his life that never changed. He studied History of Art and English at Berlin’s Free University. All the while, he supported himself by running a letterpress printer and hot metal typesetter. After graduating, Spiekermann moved to London and worked as a freelance designer for almost eight years. In 1979 he returned to Berlin and, along with two partners, founded MetaDesign, Germany’s largest design firm. Spiekermann wanted to build a company around the idea this company would “look at the big picture (often beyond the brief), and take care of tiny detail. Our work can change a client’s culture, but it also manifests itself in how well a document can be read on their computer screens. MetaDesign is about turning powerful ideas into everyday experiences” (Sweet 1). With offices in Berlin, London, and San Francisco, the company’s projects ranged from Volkswagen and Lexus to Heidelberg Printing and Berlin Transit. Nine years later Spiekermann and his wife started FontShop, a digital typeface foundry and distributor of fonts.

In 2000 Spiekermann left MetaDesign and started UDN (United Designers Network), recently renamed SpiekermannPartners, a collaboration of many designers he has worked with throughout his professional years.

He is currently a professor at the Academy of Arts in Bremen. Along with this position, he is president of the German Design Council and the International Institute of Information Design.
In an interview by Spiekermann, he elaborates on many of the type aspects that designer’s face. Even with the advancing technology, he believes that “All good type designers I know sit down with a pencil first, no matter how fast they are on the screen.”

He starts by designing the most important or frequently used weight of the font, usually regular. Once completed, he designs most bold and lightest weights possible for that typeface. After this step, technology helps advance the typeface by “calculating the in-betweens.” Furthermore, software comes in handy when a slight change in the type is needed, for you don’t have to redraw the entire thing.

Before one sits down to sketch out a font, it is important to remember one thing, “that you don’t actually design the black, you design the white: the space inside it and the space around it. That is very important. If you apply that to screenfonts, you can make a really legible screenfont.” Once a designer has this step ingrained, there is one other major concept to indulge in. Spiekermann believes that “The problem with designing typefaces is that 90% has to look like everything else, because an A has to be an A and a B has to be a B. But you have to use that other 10% of leeway to make it look different!” Optimizing this 10% is the key.

Part B
Fonts designed by Spiekermann:
Berliner Grotesk BQ
FF Govan Dingbats One
FF Govan Dingbats Two
FF Govan One
FF Govan Three
FF Govan Two
FF Info Display
FF Info Office
FF Info Office Numbers One
FF Info Office Numbers Two
FF Info Text
FF Meta
FF Meta Boiled
FF Meta Condensed
FF Meta Condensed LF
FF Meta Correspondence
FF Meta Hairline
FF Meta Headline
FF Meta Headline Compressed
FF Meta Headline Condensed
FF Meta LF
FF Meta Serif
FF Meta Serif Black
FF Meta Serif LF
FF Meta Serif LF Black
FF Meta Subnormal
ITC Officina Display
ITC Officina Display Arrows
ITC Officina Sans
ITC Officina Sans (EF)
ITC Officina Serif
ITC Officina Serif (EF)
FF Unit
FF Unit Black
FF Unit Black LF
FF Unit LF
FF Unit Rounded
FF Unit Rounded At
FF Unit Rounded Black
FF Unit Rounded LF
FF Unit Rounded Ultra
FF Unit Ultra

FF Meta

-Sans Serif
-1984
-Originally designed for Deutsche Bundespost (German Federal Post), but never used.
-Designed to be readable and sturdy, working on the postage stamp scale, post boxes and post vehicles. Attention was paid to creating a face that was easily readable from an angle, and in smaller point size.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lfE3Q4kiSE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McZSUjP1AcE&feature=related


Bibilography
"Erik Spiekermann." Wikipedia. 9 Aug. 2008. 12 Oct. 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/erik_spiekermann>.

Klein, Manfred. T & T: Type & Typographers. London: Architecture Design and
Technology P, 1991.

Pipes, Alan. Production for Graphic Designer's. 2nd ed. Upper Sadde River, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1992.

Sweet, Fay. MetaDesign: Design from the Word Up. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill
Publications, 1999.

Uleshka. "Erik Spiekermann - typography and design today." PingMag. 31 Oct. 2005. 12
Oct. 2008 <http://pingmag.jp/2005/10/31/erik-spiekermann-typography-and-design-today/>.

"View Fonts by Erik Spiekermann." Font Shop. 12 Oct. 2008
<http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/designer/erik_spiekermann/>.