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Erik
SPIEKERMANN Typographer, Designer, Entrepreneur
by Rovika Sanap 01
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Erik
SPIEKERMANN Typographer, Designer, Entrepreneur
by Rovika Sanap 05
Erik Spiekermann Idea and Concept by Rovika Sanap Curated, Edited and Designed by Rovika Sanap First published and distributed by Basheer Graphic Books Blk 231, Bain Street #04-19, Bras Basah Complex, Singapore 180231 Tel: +65 6336 0810 | Fax: +65 6259 1608 enquiry@basheergraphic.com | www.basheergraphic.com 2015 Basheer Graphic Books The copyright for individual text and design work is held by the respective designers and contributors. ISBN 978-981-07-9234-3 All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval systems or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher or the copyright owner(s). Printed and bounded by Shenzhen Hexie Printing Co., Ltd Acknowledgements I would like to thank to Miss Nia, our lecture and Michelle, our assistant lecture. For coordinated us and made sure we all were on the right track. This project would not have been accomplished without their significant contribution. This book’s successfull completion also owes a great deal to many professionals in the creative industry who have provided precious insights and comments. Leastly to many others whose names, thought not credited, who have made a big impact on my work, I thank you for your continuous support the whole time.
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CONTENT 04
01 08
ABOUT THE DESIGNER
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02 12
POPULAR TYPEFACES
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03 28
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PHOTOGRAPHS
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FONTFONT
EDENSPIEKERMANN
QUESTION & ANSWER
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ERIK SPIE 08
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EKERMANN 09
Erik Spiekermann , born 1947, studied History of Art and English in Berlin. He is author, information architect, type designer and author of books and articles on type and typography. Spiekermann lives and works in Berlin, London and San Francisco. He was founder (1979) of MetaDesign, Germany’s largest design firm with offices in Berlin, London and San Francisco. He is responsible for corporate design programs for Audi, Volkswagen,Heidelberg Printing, Bosch and wayfinding projects like Berlin Transit, Düsseldorf Airport and many others. In 1988 he started FontShop, a company for production and distribution of electronic fonts. He is board member of the German Design Council and Past President of the ISTD International Society of Typographic Designers, as well as the iiid International Institute for Informationdesign. In 2001 he left MetaDesign and now runs Edenspiekermann with offices in Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Stuttgart & San Francisco. In 2001 he redesigned The Economist magazine in London. His book for Adobe Press,“Stop Stealing Sheep” has been reprinted several times and translated into German, Russian and Italian. His corporate font family for Nokia was released in 2002. In 2003 he received the Gerrit Noordzij Award from the Royal Academy in Den Haag. His type system DB Type for Deutsche Bahn was awarded the Federal German Design Prize in gold for 2006. In May 2007 he was the first designer to be elected into the Hall of Fame by the European Design Awards for Communication Design. Erik is Honorary Professor at the University of the Arts in Bremen and in 2006 received an honorary doctorship from Pasadena Art Center. In 2007, he was made an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry by the RSA in Britain. In 2009, he became European Ambassador for Innovation and Creativity by the European Union. The German Design Council gave him their 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest award in Germany. In May 2011 he was the 25th recipient of the TDC Medal, awarded by the Type Directors Club New York. 10
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POPULAR T 12
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TYPEFACES 13
FF META AaBbCc0123 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789@’,.;?!
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FF Meta Normal FF Meta Normal Italic FF Meta Book FF Meta Book Italic FF Meta Medium FF Meta Medium Italic FF Meta Bold FF Meta Bold Italic FF Meta Black FF Meta Black Italic 15
About
FF Meta is a humanist san
designed by Erik Spiekermann and released in
was intended to be a “complete antithesis of
Throughout the 1990s, FF Meta wa design community. It has been adop
other organizations as a corporate typ
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ns-serif typeface family
n 1991. According to Spiekermann, FF Meta
f Helvetica� he found it “boring and bland.
as embraced by the international ted by numerous corporations and
peface, for signage or in their logo.
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ITC OFFICINA AaBbCc0123 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789@’,.;?!
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ITC Officina Sans Book ITC Officina Sans Book Italic ITC Officina Sans Bold ITC Officina Sans Bold Italic ITC Officina Serif Book ITC Officina Serif Book Italic ITC Officina Serif Bold ITC Officina Serif Bold Italic
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About
ITC Officina is a humanist
by Erik Spiekermann, Ole Sch채fer, Just van Ros Gothic and Courier Spiekermann began to work
The Sans was the narrow face,
face while Courier was the 10-pit
and business correspondence produ there were just the Regular and Bold
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t sans-serif typeface family designed
ssum and released in 1990. Inspired by the typewriter faces Letter on the sans. Gerard Unger offered to help with the seriffed version.
like Letter Gothic was the 12-pitch typewriter
tch one. Officina designed for office documents
uced on low-resolution (laser-)printers. Originally, weights with their Italics.
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FIRA SANS AaBbCc0123 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789@’,.;?!
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Fira Sans Light Fira Sans Light Italic Fira Sans Book Fira Sans Book Italic Fira Sans Medium Fira Sans Medium Italic Fira Sans Bold Fira Sans Bold Italic 23
About
Fira sans is a humanis
designed by Erik Spiekermann, Ralph du
released in 2013 initially under the Apach
Fira Sans was available in four w regular, medium, and bold.
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st sans-serif typeface family
u Carrois, Anja Meiners and Botio Nikoltchev and
he License and reissued under the SIL Open Font.
weights with corresponding italics: light,
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“OUR BRAIN IS IT’S THE BIGGEST HAR IT’S THE FASTEST. BU I CAN NEVER FIN 26
S INCREDIBLE. RD DRIVE WE KNOW... UT THE TROUBLE IS, ND ANYTHING.” 27
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FONT 28
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FONT 29
Fontfont back in 1990, Erik Spiekermann and Neville Brody wanted to build a foundry where type was made for designers by designers, a place where type designers were given a fair and friendly offer and where type magic was made. From the very beginning, they wanted to bend the rules and test typographic boundaries, to build a library with a collection like no other; a range of typefaces that had different styles, different purposes, that was contemporary, experimental, unorthodox, and radical. The FontFont Collection is now home to over 2800 FontFonts including favorites such as FF Meta, FF DIN, FF Scala, FF Dax, and FF Kievit and newbies like, FF Chartwell, FF Tundra, FF Mark, and FF Tisa. 30
At the heart of what they do is a heady mix of intuition, passion, a sprinkling of serendipity, an eye for detail, and a dash of attitude. From the first ever random font FF Beowolf to the release of their Web FontFonts, they place creativity at the forefront and pride theirselves on producing the highest quality typefaces that are technically robust and that continually innovate. Well known type-world celebrities have designed families for the foundry, including Erik Spiekermann, Hannes von Döhren, Martin Majoor, Albert-Jan Pool, Erik van Blokland, Mike Abbink, Xavier Dupré, and Lukasz Dziedzic. ing the highest quality typefaces that are technically robust and that continually innovate.” The main focus at FontShop International is
the extension and maintenance of the FontFont typeface library. Fonts published as FontFonts are always named using the prefix FF. Besides text and headline fonts such as FF Dax, FF DIN, FF Meta, FF Quadraat, and FF Scala there are also special designs like the “dirty” typewriter font FF Trixie, the “living” font FF Beowolf and the world’s first digital handwriting fonts FF Erikrighthand and FF Justlefthand (FF Hands package). The library now consists of over different 700 font families. Type designers may submit their own type designs for publication in the FontFont library. A committee of internal experts (TypeBoard) reviews submissions for aesthetical, technical, and marketing aspects and decides about publication in the library. A basic prerequisite is that the type designs are original. 31
“USE YOUR FU PEOPLE DON’T T PEOPLE DON’T US THEY USE CO YOUR BRAI IT IS FAST. WIC 32
UCKING BRAIN. THINK ENOUGH. SE THEIR BRAIN. OPY PASTE . IN IS FREE. CKEDLY FAST.” 33
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EDENSPIEK 34
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KERMANN 35
Edenspiekermann is an agency for strategy,
Premsela Vonk: 1956 - 1986
design and communication with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, San Francisco and Stuttgart. The agency is the result of a merger in 2009 between Eden design & communication Amsterdam and SpiekermannPartners Berlin, founded by German typographer Erik Spiekermann.
In 1956 Benno Premsela and Jan Vonk started a collaboration. Premsela worked at De Bijenkorf where he remained Head of Publicity and Shop Windows until 1963.
They regard their work first and foremost as an intellectual process. It may be common practice in their business, but they don’t always want to just show the results of this process but also the thoughts and influences that guide and inspire us. Their attitude towards work, ethics and relationships is condensed in a 7-point manifesto. This attitude doesn’t attract every client under the sun, but they have built some strong and long-lasting relationships with clients who appreciate their dedication and beliefs. Edenspiekermann is the result of several mergers and collaborations between design and architectural firms over the past decades. 36
BRS: 1969 - 1986 BRS was founded in 1969 when graphic designers Jan Brinkman and Niko Spelbrink started their collaboration.
BRS Premsela Vonk: 1986 - 1999 In 1986, Premsela Vonk merged with BRS.
E.D.E.N. European Designers Network: 1989 - 1999 In 1989 the European Designers Network E.D.E.N. was formed.
Eden: 1999 - 2009 In 1999 BRS Premsela Vonk merged with Linea, specialised in information design and form design, and DC3, specialised in interaction design.
United Designers Network and SpiekermannPartners: 2002–2009 Erik Spiekermann left MetaDesign in 2001 to run his own projects, forming the United Designers network in 2002-3.
Edenspiekermann: 2009 – present In January 2009 SpiekermannPartners and Eden merged to form Edenspiekermann.
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“THI ...YOU ASKED FOR ON ...THAT’S ONE PIE
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INK. NE PIECE OF ADVICE ECE OF ADVICE.”
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PHOTOG 40
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GRAPHS 41
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from left to right: a living room and kitchen space, where Erik prepares espressos for friends, and might offer them marzipan candies.
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from left to right: the balance of eye contact and intensity combined with his chatty nature make even a stranger feel they could be talking to an old friend.
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from left to right: Erik’s personal workspace, where a simple desk with drawers supports his computer.
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from left to right: the posters and artwork throughout all have a stories behind them, either created by Erik himself, or gifted to him by friends.
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from left to right: Spiekermann in the letterpress workshop he recently set up, P98a, situated in the courtyard of Potsdamer Strasse 98a in Berlin — across from the Edenspiekermann agency.
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from left to right: letterpress design studio.
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from left to right: His famous dictum: “Don’t work for assholes. Don’t work with assholes.” it has it’s own poster and can be found around Berlin.
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from left to right: His NSU Ro80, built in 1977 and purchased by Erik in 1985. “The car is a legacy,” he says.
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QUESTION 60
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& ANSWER 61
they were before. Making it both easy and pleasant to find your way around the Berlin Transit system. And giving Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) their face by designing their corporate design, including all the typefaces which work from the smallest timetable to the largest poster.
Q: What was the first typeface you fell in love with? A: Reklameschrift Block. It was what my neighbour gave me with my first little printing machine when I was 12.
Q: Which typefaces’ styles do you think will be the most popular in the near future and why?
Q: Which of your fonts do you feel should be more popular and why? A: FF Info Office because it works well on screen and is really cool but nobody has found it behind the larger FF Info Text and Display families.
A: The ones that express the Zeitgeist, In other words: all the styles that are appropriate, fashionable, legible and cool, how ever that may be defined at the time. We do not have one style or fashion (not even within one culture, let alone globally) anymore but many currents at the same time. Type design has always been eclectic. Type has always mirrored what went on in the visual world. These days it does so as quickly as music does and even more quickly than literature and film because you can design and produce a single typeface in a few days, all on your own. It is only the larger, more professional typographic systems that need weeks and months to complete, but even that is less than what it takes to make a movie.
Q: What was one of the most challenging typography problems you have ever had to solve? A: It is always the same: to find a visual voice for all the communication of a large corporation. It is supposed to express their identity (whatever that may mean), be legible, pleasant to look at, work technically across platforms, and be applicable across the world. I’ve done that for Nokia, Cisco, Bosch, German Railways, Heidelberg Printing.
Q: What are some of your proudest projects ever?
Q: What do you think of Apple and their approach to design in general? How does their industrial and web design compare to typeface design?
A: Making the buses and trams in Berlin bright yellow instead of the boring beige
A: I bought my first Mac in 1985 and have 62
probably bought every single computer they ever made at one time. I also have a large collection of equipment by BRAUN, most of it designed by Dieter Rams. If you look at the stuff from the 60s now, you see where Apple get their direction. They have learnt to bring objects down to the essentials without making them look boring and purely functional. They know that aesthetics play a big role in function because we do not like to use anything that is ugly. Function also follows form. Perhaps that is the common denominator for my typefaces: I have always designed my faces for a specific purpose, but they always have to look pleasing, whatever purpose they serve.
Q: Being one of the lead font designers in the world, who or what do you learn from in order to keep pushing yourself? A: The world out there: technical developments, trends, other designers, other cultures. In other words: by observing what goes on in the visual world.
Q: Can you briefly describe what the current process is like for you to create a new typeface and where do you get your inspiration from?
briefs, make analog sketches, discuss with colleagues and the client and then carry on condensing the sketches, at some point digitally.
Q: What are the challenges today for someone getting started in typeface design versus when you first started in the 1970s? A: There is more competition out there. While there are fantastic tools available that I would have killed for, it has also become very difficult to master all of them. We are therefore on the way back to share work between people. Some of us are good at sketching, some at programming, some at using production tools. Not one person can do all of it equally well. That is how type used to be made before desktop computers and that is how type is made again today.
Q: What’s next for Erik Spiekermann? A: Share my time between San Francisco, Berlin and London, work less for clients and more for myself. Use digital technology to make analog things.
A: The question about inspiration is tedious because I work like everybody else. Everything can be inspirational, there is no method or proper process. Like any design process, I look at the brief, take it apart, look at comparable
An Interview with Erik Spiekermann By Debbie Hemley, Jul 14, 2011
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