→ I am a graphic designer, a type designer and a teacher of both disciplines. After more than 20 years in the Netherlands, in Switzerland, the USA and in Germany I now live in New York City again. I drew the typeface you are reading right now and called it Interpol Serif. I also hand-coded this website in BBedit, old school HTML5, CSS3 on the back of ExpressionEngine. Thanks for visiting my site and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me…
Since I moved back to New York in January 1014 there have been lots of exciting new developments. Check back here to see what I am up to. Also let me know if you have ideas or want to get something done…
For a brief moment there, I felt ridiculously proud today to be reminded that the Type@Cooper program sort of started as an idea of mine. In the past five years it has grown into an institution in its field. My most sincere and heartfelt congratulations go out to the crew that had the vision, fortitude and dedication to create the program out of thin air. The students of Type@Cooper however have earned its exceptionally good name with their high level of skill, style and love, which is simply evident in the program's body of work.
I will be helping out at the (store front, pop-up) TypeLab, a multi-day hackathon for type design at this year’s brand new Typographics conference. If you draw type or are interested in it you should definitely swing by. There will be lectures and demonstrations, you will meet the Dutch legends Petr van Blokland (ask him why he hates the Golden Section) and the Letterror guys, get your Sharpies out, bring a laptop, open your mind…
Demonstrating street cred by way of ancient, incredibly snug fitting, threadbare t-shirts.
I am extremely proud to announce that I will be part of next summer's Condensed certificate program at Type@Cooper again. Andy Clymer of Hoefler&Co and I will be co-teaching the manual and digital type design part. British master calligrapher Ewan Clayton will take on the introduction to writing and shed light on contrast and construction while Alexander Tochilovsky, curator of the Lubalin Center has a series of special lectures prepared. There will be visits to rare books departments of a number of New York libraries and of course much sweating over letter shapes.
The (Web)fontday is a conference for designers of digital media as well as for front-end and mobile developers. Here is the talk of psychophysicist Denis Pelli, Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU. In his talk «How We Read Letters» he explains in plain language his amazing legibility research and mentions some of the work we collaborated on.
Thankfully all lectures of the conference are made available on YouTube here…
I read something that Milton Glaser allegedly said about his clients also being his friends and I found it to be very true for myself. Most of my clients are indeed friends (or quickly become so). If that shift in the relationship does not happen, it usually signals their limited life expectancy as clients. I love being a collaborator and, as a designer, delivering unique work is very close to opening up as a person. The outcome has proven that my work benefits hugely from the comfortable milieu of trust and friendship.
I studied graphic and typographic design at the KABK (Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague) in the Netherlands. After apprenticeships at Studio Dumbar and the Font Bureau I worked at Meta Design, the Buro Petr van Blokland and House Industries. I started my own design studio Das Kombinat in 1999 and the Kombinat-Typefounders in 2001.
To see what I am working on right at this minute you can also check out my Dribbble account. Also it is unfortunate that some of the nicest jobs I have worked on are still protected by non disclosure agreements so I can’t show them. Here are a few pieces however that I can talk about.
For more of my work history please check my bio section…
In the course of roughly fifteen years of professional practice I have worked for a whole lot of people. Here are some of them as they come to mind and in alphabetical order. I will add some more as I remember (my brain is like a colander, to paraphrase)…
I love teaching. The most important part of which is convincing the students that they are free to be bold and create the most beautiful work they have in them. And then there are the methods and skills of course, the craftsmanship. I have taught various design, typography and type design classes at a number of schools and universities. I started in 2002 at the SfG, Basel School of Design. Since 2011 I have been fortunate to teach at the Type@Cooper Program. Check out my account of the summer class of 2012.
For more details about my teaching experience please check my bio section…
Type@Cooper work space panorama 2013
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Blackboard
Discussing the intricacies of the roman lower case g
The Grolier Club
A visit to one of New York City's finest rare books collections
Final presentation
On the last day of the Type@Cooper Condensed program students present their projects. I believe this is Christian V. at the bat.
Student sketches
Design Space workshop, 2014
Field trip to Amsterdam
In 2004 I took my Basel class of Typographic Designers on a week in The Netherlands. We visited museums, local design studios, saw the old masters and ate heaps of bitterballen.
Workshop participants
Workshop: Understanding and Experiencing the Designspace. Every year Jesse Ragan’s Extended students manage to surprise with their level of skill and comprehension.
Group critique
The Butler Library
As part of the Type@Cooper Condensed Program we take the students to visit a number of rare books departments. Here we are at Columbia University.
Poster project
Undergraduate, Typography II
Group critique wall
Type@Cooper Condensed Program, summer 2013. A review of the first step towards the student's own, original, digital typeface.
I have taught individual, private type design classes for beginning and advanced students. I coached students in building their portfolio and served on the committee for student admission.
In Switzerland I was a member of my school's working group that wrote a detailed standard for the creation of the new undergrad Graphic Designer program. I also served as a specialist for new media to the board of the centralized Swiss federal exams and as an examiner for type design and new media on the board for the state exams.
Schools and universities
Type@Cooper in the Extended and Condensed programs
Typografie und digitale Medien (Typography and Digital Media)
Computergrundlagen (Introduction to the Computer)
Neue Medien (New Media)
Entwerfen I (Design I) co-teaching with Peter Olpe
Zeichen, Schrift (the mark, the type)
Schriftgestaltung (Type Design)
Typography I
Typography II
Experimental Type
Type Design
Advanced Design - Type Design
Principles of Typeface Design 1: From Pen to Pixel
Principles of Typeface Design 2: Beyond the Basics
Typedesign and Lettering
Introduction to type design: Hand drawn type - The Roman Letterforms
Introduction to type design: Hand drawn type - The Italic Letterforms
Introduction to Digital Type Design in FontLab Studio v.5
Type@Cooper Condensed Program
Workshops I have taught
Type Design Basics – 5 days
Understanding and Experiencing the Designspace – 2 days
Introduction to Robofont – 1 day
Type Design – 1 day
Type on Screen – 4 days
Grundlagen der Schriftentwicklung (Basics of Typeface Development) – 2 days
Von der figürlichen Skizze zur Bildergeschichte (From a Figurative Sketch to a Story in Pictures) – 5 days
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Bio
Since graduating from the Royal Academy in The Hague in 1996 (that was before there was a Type]Media program) I have mostly worked independently. The few times I was employed are still very special experiences to me. I learned a lot, met the nicest people and worked on some pretty cool projects.
Co-teaching in different constellations with Sumner Stone, Just van Rossum, Ewan Clayton and Andy Clymer: In this 5 week long program the students are step-by-step taken from the very basics of type design to completing their own, original typeface.
Principal of digital type foundry: The Kombinat-Typefounders is a publisher and distributor of digital typefaces. We work with our clients on custom tailored typographic solutions, but we also license the fonts in our exclusive retail library, which are available only from our Berlin headquarters and from here at www.kombinat-typefounders.com .
Principal: As my work had become more and more centered around type design and production, which is covered by the Kombinat-Typefounders it was time to fold the graphic design label Das Kombinat back into the foundry. By no means did this mark the end of my personal investment into graphic design, it simply did not require its own label any longer.
Teacher: In the foundation year as well as on the post graduate level and in continued education I taught the following classes:
Schriftgestaltung (Type Design)
Zeichen, Schrift (Mark and Type)
Neue Medien (New Media)
Entwerfen I (Design I) co-teaching with Peter Olpe
Computergrundlagen (Introduction to the Computer)
In addition to teaching these classes I coached students in building their portfolio and served on the committee for student admission. I also served as a specialist for new media to the board of the Swiss federal exams and as an examiner for type design and new media on the board for the state exams.
Graphic and Typographic Designer: At the studio located in Delft I took care of the corporate typefaces and logo fonts for some of the major Dutch banks and insurance companies, a strong demand for euro signs and dived head on into database publishing and the mysteries of Robofog.
Over the years my work has been in a number of publications. I am trying to keep an up-to-date list of it here. Please let me know if you spot anything that should be added to this.
Slanted Magazine
The Art Type issue presents international artists who use and examine type and language in their work. My interview was conducted by Wolfgang Wick of Buero MAGENTA. You can read the interview here…
«Type should be fun»
MAGMA Brand Design, Dec. 2013, vol. 22,
Type Navigator
This Independent Foundries Handbook introduces 20 small, and very small type foundries, among them my outfit, the Kombinat-Typefounders.
Jan Middendorp and TwoPoints.Net
Die Gestalten, 2011, 320 pp, in English language
Made with FontFont
“Made with FontFont” is a companion to “FiFFteen”, an exhibition celebrating FontFont and FUSE. Edited by Erik Spiekermann and Jan Middendorp, it showcases the history and influence of the award-winning foundry with real-world examples of FontFonts in use. Featured here is my typeface the ffBlocker.
Jan Middendorp and Erik Spiekermann
Mark Batty Publisher, 2007, 352 pp, in English language
e (FontShop magazine #11)
This special edition of the FontShop magazine was published to the occasion of Erik Spiekerman being awarded the third Gerrid Noorzij price on February 18, 2006. The book contains contribution and dedications by numerous Dutch designers and friends showcasing a brief history of Erik's work and his influence on the contemporary type design scene. Presented here is my typeface ffBlocker.
Jan Willem Stas and students of the Type]Media program at the KABK
FontShop Benelux, 2006, vol. 11, 96 pp, in English language
Ha daar gaat er een van mij
The title translates to “Hey, there goes one of mine!” — This is a book about design in the Hague/Netherlands from 1945-2000. Presented here is my typeface ffBlocker.
Author Jan Middendorp, design Huug Schipper
010 Publishers, 2002, 304 pp, in Dutch language
Zwiebelfisch
My interview was conducted via email by Emanuela Fechete.
Created by the students of Freie Hochschule für Grafik Design und Bildende Kunst in Freiburg, Germany. Read the interview here…
Jos Fritz Verlag Freiburg , 2003, 80 pp, in English language
Schriften österreichischer Designer
The title translates to “Typefaces of Austrian Designers” — An irregularly published, loose leaf newsletter, showcasing Austrian type designers. This issue was dedicated to my super family of typefaces, called Interpol.
Design Austria (the Society of Austrian Graphic Designers), 1998, vol. 5, 6 pp, in German language
Haagse Letters
The title translates to “Letters from The Hague” — "InterPol" and "InterSerif", early versions of the typeface family Interpol Serif and Interpol Sans were published in the book Haagse Letters.
Author Mathieu Lommen, design Peter Verheul
Buitenkant, 1996, 72 pp, in Dutch language
KABK Eindexamenboek
The title translates to “KABK Degree Show Book” — Every year the Royal Academy of Fine Arts produces a book featuring student work, one graduate per page. Typefaces presented here are Interpol Serif and Interpol Sans.
Studio Matzwart, Paulina Matusiak and Carrie Zwarts
KABK, 1996, , in Dutch language
con form
In 1996 the KABK, Royal Academy of Fine Arts hosted the annual ATypI conference in Den Haag. To that occasion it published this book, showcasing the state of type design education at the Royal Academy. Typefaces presented here are ffMutilated, Interpol Serif and Interpol Sans.
David van der Wij, Jesse Skolnik, Bas Smidt and Paul van der Laan
KABK, 1996, 32 pp, in English language
Sluitzegels voor Tuberculose Bestrijding
The title translates to “Sealing Stamps for Fighting Tuberculosis” — Catalog of the second design contest held by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in cooperation the Royal Dutch Tuberculosis Foundation for the design of the annual sealing stamp. Winning designs by Maaike Janssen and Hannes Famira.
Studio Matzwart, Paulina Matusiak
KABK and KNCV, 1994, 48 pp, in Dutch language
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Articles
Some stray old texts about this and that. Also check out my contributions on Quora.com. If you are interested in anything in particular or have a question please just drop me a note…
When getting started working with the type design application Robofont I recommend to check out the links and downloads that I compiled below. This is a list that I prepared for my students but I think anyone new to Robofont might find some of these basic pointers useful. Please don't hesitate to suggest changes or additions. And now have fun…
There is a perceived order of things where the large determines the smaller. It is more a gut feeling than a law of physics but it seems logical that bigger objects determine the fait of smaller objects. It is my opinion that in typography the laws of nature are actually turned on their heads. Let me convince you.
Wolfgang Wick of Buero MAGENTA conducted this interview for Slanted magazine by email in the summer of 2013. This issue runs under the title Art Type and presents international artists who examine type and language in their work. Featured are also a number of essays and interviews that focus on the intersection of art, design and typography.
This interview was conducted via email by Emanuela Fechte for Zwiebelfisch, a German design magazine created by the students of the Freie Hochschule für Grafik Design und Bildende Kunst in Freiburg, Germany.
In 2000 Anthony Calahan visited The Netherlands in order to conduct research for his PHD and to talk to local type designers. While this interview with Paul van der Laan and myself is clearly very dated and we were just out of art school, I find it interesting how much has changed not least of all the landscape of the type foundries.
When the new, unified European currency was first introduced type designers all over the world scrambled to get their hands on workable character design standards and ways to technically implement the euro into the very limiting font technology existing at the time. This is a blog post I wrote in ’97, during that first wave when type designers basically invented the design principles of the euro on the basis of the meager and in part just plain faulty information that was publicly available then.
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