Spiekermann studied Art History at Berlin's Free University, funding himself by running a hot metal printing press in the basement of his house. Between 1972–1979 he worked as a freeleance designer in London before returning to Berlin and founding MetaDesign with two partners. Although undergoing several reinventions and restarts, the company's client list now includes Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, Audi, Hewlett Packard, IBM and Nike, and comprises offices in Berlin, San Francisco and Zurich.
Notable works
Spiekermann designed the seminal typeface, "Meta", sold through FontShop and arguably the most popular digital typeface of the 1990s, and co-authored the classic treatise on modern typography, Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works. He has also participated in the creation of numerous corporate identities and other works. He is widely regarded as the father of modern digital typography.
Further reading
Metadesign: Design from the word up, Thames and Hudson, 1999
Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works, Adobe Press 1993
Also responsible for the redesign of the Economist (http://www.economist.com/) (print, not sure about www site).
* wonderful trimming of ascenders and descenders for the sake of managing information density.
The prize was given to ErikSpiekermann on October 17, 2003 at the gallery of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague at the opening of an exhibition of the work of Fred Smeijers, the previous winner of the Prize.
ErikSpiekermann is an information architect, type designer (FF Meta, the new FF Unit, ITC Officina, FF Info, FF Govan, and others) and author of books and articles on type and typography.
Described by Spiekermann as the "grown-up" version of his famous FF Meta typeface, FF Unit is well suited for use in both large and small instances.
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