Otl Aicher

Otl Aicher – born May 13, 1922 in Ulm, Germany, died September 1, 1991 in Rotis über Leutkirch, Germany – type designer, graphic designer, author, teacher.

1946–47: studies at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. 1947: design studio in Ulm. Produces graphics for: Braun Elektrogeräte (1954), Deutsche Lufthansa (1969), Westdeutsche Landesbank (1964), Blohm & Voss (1964), Bayrische Rückversicherung (1972), Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen ZDF (1974) and Erco (from 1976), among others.

1949–54: one of the initiators and founder members of the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm. 1954–66: lecturer in the department of visual communication. 1956-59: member od the board of governors. 1967: design studio in Munich. 1967–72: commissioned with the design for the Olympic Games in Munich. Develops an internationally conventional system of pictograms. 1972: moves his studio to Rotis in the Allgäu region of Germany.

Aicher’s extensive practical and theoretical work represents an expanded and refined structural functionalism, and demonstrates an holistic and rational approach to visual communication on the basis of its social relevance. 1984: founds the Instiut für analoge Studien. He has thought the Yale University, USA (1958) and at the Museo de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro (1959). Numerous exhibition all over the world.

Fonts: Traffic (for Munich’s public transport services), Rotis® (1989).

Publications include: "Zeichensysteme" (with Martin Krampen), Munich 1980; "Wilhelm von Ockham" (with Wilhelm Vossenkuhl and Gabriele Greindl), Munich 1986; "Griffe und Greifen" (with Robert Kuhn), Cologne 1987; "Typographie", Lüdenscheidt 1988; "Analog und Digital", Berlin 1991; "Die Welt als Entwurf", Berlin 1991; "Schreiben und Widersprechen", Berlin 1993.

* TYPOGRAPHY – An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History by Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott (Editor), Bernard Stein, published by Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.