Famous Type Designers

Matthew Carter

Matthew Carter
  • Nationality: British
  • Era: Contemporary
  • Education: Internship at Joh. Enschedé in The Netherlands
  • Foundry: Carter & Cone
  • Famous Fonts: Georgia, Verdana, Tahoma, Bell Centennial
  • Designed for: Time, Washington Post, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Wired, and Newsweek
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Max Miedinger

Max Miedinger
  • Nationality: Swiss
  • Era: Mid-20th Century
  • Education: Kunstgewerbeschule
  • Famous Fonts: Helvetica (with Eduard Hoffmann)
  • Other Skills: Typesetter
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

John Baskerville

John Baskerville
  • Nationality: British
  • Era: 18th Century
  • Famous Fonts: Baskerville
  • Other Skills: Printing, paper, and ink production, lacquerwork and papier-maché
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Tobias Frere-Jones

Tobias Frere-Jones
  • Nationality: American
  • Era: Contemporary
  • Education: Rhode Island School of Designe
  • Foundry: Frere-Jones Type
  • Famous Fonts: Gotham, Interstate, Archer (with Jonathan Hoefler)
  • Designed for: The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and the Whitney Museum
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Adrian Frutiger

Adrian Frutiger
  • Nationality: Swiss
  • Era: Late 20th century
  • Education: Rhode Island School of Designe
  • Foundry: Deberny & Peignot
  • Famous Fonts: Univers, Frutiger, Avenir
  • Fonts used for: London street signage, Paris Metro, Deutsche Bank, GE, Apple
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Erik Spiekermann

Erik Spiekermann
  • Nationality: German
  • Era: Contemporary
  • Education: Berlin’s Free University
  • Design Firm: Edenspiekermann
  • Famous Fonts: Berliner Grotesk, FF Meta, ITC Officina Sans
  • Designed for: Berlin Transit, Audi, Volkswagen, Nokia
  • Other Skills: Graphic design, Letterpress
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Claude Garamond

Claude Garamond
  • Nationality: French
  • Era: 16th Century
  • Education: Apprenticed with Antoine Augereau
  • Famous Fonts: Garamond
  • Designed for: King François I
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Stanley Morison

Stanley Morison
  • Nationality: British
  • Era: Early 20th Century
  • Education: Self-taught
  • Famous Fonts: Times New Roman (with Victor Lardent), revival of Baskerville
  • Other Skills: Print Historian
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Carol Twombly

Carol Twombly
  • Nationality: American
  • Era: Contemporary
  • Education: Rhode Island School of Design, Stanford University
  • Famous Fonts: Trajan, Myriad, Adobe Caslon, Chaparral
  • Designed for: Adobe
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Jonathan Hoefler

Jonathan Hoefler
  • Nationality: American
  • Era: Contemporary
  • Education: Rhode Island School of Design
  • Foundry: Hoefler Type Foundry
  • Famous Fonts: Hoefler Text, Requiem, Archer (with Frere-Jones)
  • Designed for: Guggenheim Museum, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, New York Times Magazine
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Paul Renner

Paul Renner
  • Nationality: German
  • Era: Early 20th Century
  • Education: Several Universities
  • Foundry: Hoefler Type Foundry
  • Famous Fonts: Futura
  • Other Skills: Author, Painter
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia

Jan Tschichold

Jan Tschichold
  • Nationality: Swiss
  • Era: Early 20th Century
  • Famous Fonts: Sabon, Zeus
  • Designed for: Penguin Books
  • Other Skills: Author, Painter
  • Find Out More: Wikipedia