Erik Spiekermann: Typography and life

Erik Spiekermann is a famous German typomaniac. Typography has been his life — he even refuses to read unless he can identify the font type.

He used to work as a freelance designer in London during the 1970s, before moving back to Berlin where, together with two partners, established  MetaDesign.

In 1989, he and his wife, Joan, started FontShop, the world’s first mail-order distributor of fonts. After leaving MetaDesign in 2001, he started UDN (United Designers Network) which was later renamed SpiekermannPartners. In 2009, he decided to merge with another design agency and became the director of what is now Edenspiekermann. In 2007 he was entered in to the European Designers Hall of Fame.

Spiekermann co-authored Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works. He also participated in the creation of numerous corporate identities and other works, including redesigns of the publications The Economist and Reason.

We can also confirm he is 64 and he still possesses a sharp wit 🙂 judging by our conversation on Twitter:

@fluffylinks I'm 64. My bio is more than 140 characters.

June 19, 2011 8:39 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@espiekermann

erik spiekermann

Tags: Design, edenspiekermann, Erik Spiekermann, Famous Designers, Fontshop, Graphic Design, Information Design, Informative, typography