Gestalten Hello, I am Erik: Erik Spiekermann: Typographer, Designer, Entrepeneur

Erik Spiekermann is one of the best-known typographers and graphic designers in the world. As a teacher and critic who is loved and feared in equal measure, his influence on contemporary graphic design is unparalleled. Spiekermann also represents German typeface and corporate design like no other. Hello, I am Erik is the first-ever visual biography of Erik Spiekermann s work. The book documents his projects, traces milestones in his life, and offers his personal perspectives on design. Essays by notable designers and authors provide a framework and further context for this vivid presentation of his body of work. With his design of guidance systems for the Berliner Vekehrsbetriebe (Berlin s transportation authority) and Düsseldorf Airport as well as his typeface design for Deutsche Bahn (Germany s national rail system), Spiekermann made sure that not only Germans could better find their way around. With his corporate identities for brands such as Audi, Volkswagen, and Bosch, he also helped establish a sensibility for corporate design in Germany. Yet Spiekermann has also always worked internationally. He is, to name but one example, responsible for the redesign of the magazine the Economist. Spiekermann is a highly sought after public speaker and regularly gives lectures at leading design conferences and universities around the world. He is, for example, an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and holds an honorary doctorate from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. In his classes and his companies, such as MetaDesign and EdenSpiekermann, he has helped train many of today s top designers. Although Erik Spiekermann is well respected as one of the international leaders in graphic design, he is neither unapproachable nor pretentious. Many young designers are especially motivated and influenced by his uncomplicated and open way of working with them. His personality is only one of many reasons Spiekermann has earned the admiration of so many throughout the world. The book Hello, I am Erik was edited, written, and designed by Johannes Erler and his office in close cooperation with Erik Spiekermann. The founder of MetaDesign, FontShop, and EdenSpiekermann has been a successful entrepreneur and impulse generator for decades. When Erik Spiekermann founded FontShop International with his wife Joan and Neville Brody, he helped establish the internet as a source for buying fonts. His typefaces FF Meta and ITC Officina have been bestsellers for years and are already considered modern classics by typographers worldwide. Spiekermann now likes to comment on current developments in the world of design via Twitter, where he has more than 250,000 followers. In 2011, he received the German Design Award for lifetime achievement.