GERMANY | typographer | writer | teacher
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Indra Kupferschmid, born 1973, is a German typographer and writer, currently living in Bonn. After studying visual communication at the Bauhaus-University Weimar and with Fred Smeijers in the Netherlands, she founded her own studio in 1999, mainly designing and editing books for several German speaking publishing houses and cultural institutions; research projects on architecture together with the architect Lars-Christian Uhlig; and typeface development for print and consumer-product interfaces. Since 1997, Kupferschmid has been teaching typography and type design at various design schools, and since 2006, she has been a professor at the Academy of Fine Art in Saarbrücken at the French border. Her typographic reference book, Buchstaben kommen selten allein, published by Niggli, Switzerland, was awarded one of the best designed books in Germany. She is co-author of Helvetica forever, by Lars Müller Publishers, writes articles, takes part in juries and gives lectures regularly. Currently Kupferschmid is working on a book about choosing and classifying typefaces, which will be published at the beginning of 2009.
FOR MORE >> www.typeradio.org
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L E C T U R E | 1130h | 14.02.09 | view programme
Hamburgefonswhat? - choosing type
Selecting typefaces is the most interesting part in the design-process - at least that’s the case for Indra Kupferschmid, if one knows where to look for and how to browse the myriad specimen books and websites (or is able to recall many typefaces by memory). For others it remains an unloved myth and they give up at letter G(aramond) or even right at the outset with A(rial). Typefaces have certain flavors that you smell/see before, during and after reading a text. But all this is highly subjective. Is it then possible to give »objective« tips about choosing the »right« font/typeface? What are the factors one has to consider when designing a lexicon, a signage system or for corporate usage? Are classifications of any help? Kupferschmid will examine the quirks and peculiarities associated with typeface selection, something most of us do everyday.
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About the images
Helvetica forever – history of a typeface. Lars Müller Publishers, 2007 (English 2008) | Neues bauen am horn
(New architecture at the Horn, Weimar), an architectural research
project and documentation about a newly developed living quarter in
Weimar | Buchstaben kommen selten allein (Letters come rarely alone), a typographic reference book. Niggli, 2001. Cover, and detail from a spread.
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