Born in Marburg/Lahn, Germany, in 1935. Studied at the School of Applied Arts in Wiesbaden with Professor Friedrich Poppl from 1954 to 1958. Almost 40 years as a teacher at the School/University of Applied Arts in Wiesbaden, area of instruction: communication design with emphasis on type and typography. Preferred areas of work: corporate design, type design, type and book graphics.

Numerous international awards and honors, among others from the Type Directors Club, New York, The Art Directors Club, New York, Bienale of Graphic Design Brünn. Gold medal for type design for ’Schneider-Antiqua’. Exhibitions in Europe, the USA, Canada, Korea, India, Japan, China, Israel, South Africa and Australia

Works of fine art found in well-known museums and collections around the world, among others in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Book and Arts Special Collection of the San Francisco Library, the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach, and the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

2002 Werner Schneider and Helmut Ness created the font Vialog®, a font which sets new standards for a good legibility.

In 2007, Linotype published his new brush script Sunetta™ together with Vialog®, a typeface with superlative legibility that is ideal for use on wayfinding systems; this was designed by Werner Schneider working in cooperation with Helmut Ness.