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“Other people look at a bottle of

wine or girl’s bottom’s. I just get kicks out of

looking at type.”

, says Artist, Author, Ar-chitect, world renowned

Designer and German Typographer, Erik Spieker-

mann. He was born on May 30, 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony, Germany. He financed his study of Art History and English at Berlin’s free University by operating a letter-press printing press in the basement of his home. He worked as a freelance Graphic Designer before he founded MetaDesign, with his two partners, Uli Mayer-Johanssen and Hans Ch. Kru-ger, in 1947. At that time, MetaDesign was Germany’s largest design firm with offices in Berlin, London and San Francisco. It combined clean, tectonic-looking type design. While working within this company, Spiekermann created complex corporate design systems for Nokia, VW, Audi, Skoda, Volkswagen, Lexus, Heidelberg Print-ing, Bosch, German and transporta-tion projects like Berlin Transit (BVG) and Düsseldorf Airport. After marrying Joan Spiekermann in 1988, he started the first mail-order distributor for digital fonts company called FontShop, in 1989, which then

turned into FSI FontShop Internationalt. FontShop/FontShop International publishes fonts in the

FontFont typeface range. There are five FontShops around the world: Australia, Austria, Benelux, Germany and America. In 2001, when policy disagreements arose, Spiekerman left MetaDesign and founded United Designers Networks (UDN). UDN is a Graphic Design company whom employs sixty employees worldwide. They have offices in Berlin, London, and San Francisco. After UDN was re-named SpiekermannPartners in 2007, they merged with Eden Design in Am-sterdam in 2009, and it’s been called Edenspiekermann ever since. Spieker-mann is currently managing partner and creative director there, with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Stuttgart, and San Francisco. Additionally, he is Hon-orary Professor at the University of the Arts Bremer. Spiekermann’s love of type has stayed constant throughout his life, starting at a young age. The first font Spiekermann fell in love with was Reklameschrift Block.

His neighbor had given him his first little printing machine with that particular font on it, when he was twelve years old. Spikermann is inspired by any and everything: the world itself, technical developments, trends and other designers and cultures. He has written many books and articles about type and typography. In fact, his wisdom of the type world is portrayed in his writings found in the book for Adobe Press called, Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works. This book was issued in a second edition in 2001 and has been published in many languages including: German, Russian, and Portuguese. Spiekermann says that inspiration should come from who you are and what you’ve seen in your life. To him, inspiration only comes with pressure. Spiekermann has used and continues to use typography creatively to his advantage. He thinks that Arial is the most overrated font in the world. His favorite letter in the alphabet is thelowercase “a” because he believes it has the most character. He also finds that it is the most difficult letter to design. When he designs a typeface, he creates that individual letter first. He says that once you have created that, you know you have a typeface. Spiekermann plans to have his epitaph inscribed in the font, Rotis. This will insinuate that he is definitely dead because it is the font that he hates the most out of all fonts. His most well known fonts that he has designed are FF Meta and ITC Officina. In his ideal world, all fonts would be paid for. He has designed a large collection of fonts including: FF Meta, FF Meta Serif, ITC Officina Sans, ITC Officina Serif, FF Govan , FF Info, FF Unit, LoType, and Berliner Grotesk. He is responsible for the

design process for many corporate car companies and transportation stations in Europe. He has also built commercial typefaces for large corporate design programs. In 2002, he designed the corporate font family for Nokia; a multinational communications and information technology corporation. Spieker-mann has won multiple awards throughout vhis lifetime, including: Gerrit Noordzij Prize in 2003, German Design Award in 2006, European Designers Hall of Fame, and Honorary Royal Designer for Industry in 2007.Spiekermann believes that type systems for companies enable both an updated, refined brand image, as well as easier intake of information for customers, from signage to advertising. He once said, “I still call myself a modernist, but that doesn’t mean that I have to use Futura all the time. It just means I question things”. Spiekermann’s influence on the type industry is interesting because his style is unique and classy.He says that fonts are the only software that have not changed much through the years and that they will always be in use. Spiekerman received a Gold Metal at the German Federal Design Prize in 2006, the highest such award in Germany. In that same year, he was also awarded Honorary Doctorship for his influence on the design world by the Art Center College of Design. In 20011, he received the 25th Type Directors Club Medal, which is given to those who have made significant contributions to the life, art, and craft of typography. He says,

“I have been suffering from Typomania all my life, a sickness that is incurable, but not lethal”.