Intro ducing Erik Spieker mann
Erik Spiekermann is a German typographer and designer. He studied art history at Berlin’s Free University.
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Between 1972 and 1979 he worked freelance London before returning to Berlin and founding MetaDesign.
Spiekermann got his first letter press machine at age 12 from his neighbour.
Whilst he was studing he funded himself by making letter press prints in the basement of his house. He is still creating work with this process today. 1
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Me t h od 001
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He starts by doing rough sketches, like a little exercise. Once the sketches look like they will do he then draws out 4-5 characters (A,N,E,S), this really defines it. Then once thats done he can sit down with his type designer who will turn that into data and a technilogical format.
h od 001 If he finds a something he really likes or is right for a client but can’t get hold of it wether it be too expensive or a rip off, then he will look over it, draw it and sketch over it. Put it away then come back to it the next day and draw it from memory, then its different and his own typeface. 2
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He has done the typography for road signs and the Berlin Bahnhof, he likes people not knowing that he has designed everything, calling himself the ‘Uknown Designer’.
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Spiekermann’s favourite letter is the lower case A, there is so much you can do with it when designing. Its the most complex and significant as its the first letter in the alphabet. This is a piece of his own work including his favourite letter in his two favourite fonts.
He explains he likes to pull things apart, wether it be type or printers etc. He has a real interest in how things work and how they are put together.
Type is all about rhythem and space, its not actually about form very much. Every word has a rhythem, its like looking at a park or a building you dont see the details you see all of it. To get a good typeface it needs rhythem and contrast, thats why all our handwriting is legible because there is a rhythem to it.
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5 The rhythem is space between words and characters, Just like music that makes it exciting. It it was just the notes without any meta or timing every note would sound the same. Erik’s role is to put rhythem into it. The outside is the black and the inside is the white like the pauses in music, that makes the rhythem. The silence inbetween is what he actually designs.
Typography is like writing music in a way, the tune isnt done by the designer, we do the sound. A sentance is a sentance, a tune is a tune wether you play it on a banjo, piana, etc they just sound different. Thats what we do, we add the sound.
Erik Spiekermann - Helvetica 2007 5