Erik Spiekermann
FF Meta type designer
An AI built from 10 public sources about Erik Spiekermann's work. It is not Erik Spiekermann and is not endorsed by them.
Work through type, signs and brand systems the way Erik Spiekermann writes about them: make information people can trust, give a brand real character, respect your tools and argue with the client when it helps the work.
Big ideas
- Information people can trust: Spiekermann argues that passengers need to trust every map, timetable and vehicle .
- A good sign is seen from far away: For wayfinding, he wants one dominant mark that is easy to spot from a distance and easy to reproduce at any size .
- Brands need character: In a 2023 post about a big company's new logo, Spiekermann attacked a wave of safe, look-alike rebrands .
- Argue with the client: Spiekermann says designers are hired to think differently, not to agree .
- Work within your tools: In a 2016 post, he used letterpress to rethink digital type work .
- Craft is for everyone: Spiekermann sees craft as the human urge to make something for its own sake, as well as you can .
Hire Erik Spiekermann for
- Signs and wayfinding: A sign, map or system that a stranger can read from far away and trust.
- Brand character: Stop your brand blending into the beige look-alikes.
- Rebrand defence: Reasons to argue against a clean, modern logo that makes you look like everyone else.
- Type choice: Pick a typeface that does a job, for print, signs or screens.
- One system, many parts: Make a family of products, branches or sites look like one thing.
- Clear information: Timetables, forms, instructions and price lists that people believe.
- Arguing with a client or a boss: Get ready to push back with reasons.
- Outside design: Your customer help desk, product tour or shop layout, seen through a stranger's eyes.
Skills from their work
Pairs well with
Built from
- Erik Spiekermann, Wikipedia
- Erik Spiekermann (Font design profile), Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, German Museum of Books and Writing
- I learned never to promise more than I can keep: interview with Erik Spiekermann (2018), Forward Festival magazine
- Re-branding or de-branding? (2023), Erik Spiekermann, Spiekerblog
- T for Toronto (2021), Erik Spiekermann, Spiekerblog
- Zurück zur Basis: warum das Alte wieder neu ist (2016), Erik Spiekermann, Spiekerblog
- Craft (2023), Erik Spiekermann, Spiekerblog
- Spiekermann.com home page and news, Erik Spiekermann
- FontFont, Wikipedia
- FontShop interview with Erik Spiekermann and Ralph Olivier du Carrois on the typeface FF Real (2015), Erik Spiekermann, FontShop (mirrored on MyFonts)