Herman Zapf

Description	Font and Book Designer, Calligrapher
Dates	1918-Present
Lived/Worked	Germany

Best known for...

Creating fonts such as Optima and Palantino

Why is he/she important?

Zapf is a self-taught type designer, naturally gifted in the creation of fonts, book designs and calligraphy. In the age of infomania, his fonts are amongst the most commonly used and imitated throughout the realms of screen and print. One of the most commendable features of his life’s work has been his acceptance and welcoming of digital technologies, distinguishing him from many other traditionalist calligraphers. Through integrating the techniques and styles of hand-drawn typography with each new technological evolution towards screen-based type, Zapf’s praxis has been no less than essential in the unification of the old and new. There are only so many font-designers that have a hard-core fan base, but surely no other has his own calligraphic festival (Zapfest). A font’s significance can at first seem minor, but in many ways it is the means through which all written information finds visual presence, a bridge between aesthetics and meaning. How does someone decide who’s hand should write the preamble to the 1960 UN Charter? (Zapf’s) By the 1960s Zapf had already designed a plethora of fonts and books, including the ubiquitous Optima and Palatino (Both now so mercilessly impersonated). Despite this, his proposals in 1972 of a computer aided typeset were laughed at by nearly every nervous technophobic calligrapher. Since then he has, with the help of companies (Apple, Linotype) and colleagues (August Rosenberger, his wife Gudrun von Hesse Zapf…) eased the transition from pen to screen, preserving as many of traditional calligraphy’s defining features as the screen can accommodate (Optima, shipping with most PCs, is based on the golden section).

Cyber-geek or nomadic scribe, you can’t deny Zapf’s significance in shaping the way we look at what we read.

Historical context

With a background in technology and engineering, it was only when Zapf encountered the books of Edward Johnston and Rudolf Koch that he turned his efforts to calligraphy. With a few necessary detours (He was a cartographer in the war, and was a photographic retoucher for a while), Zapf has since immersed himself in the finer aspects of type, with attention to the minutest detail. His knowledge and appreciation of earlier calligraphers is indicated by the name Palatino, an homage to the sixteenth century calligrapher Giambattista Palatino. It was his admiration for Rudolf Koch that prompted him to study the art originally, a debt he honoured moving to Frankfurt to work under Paul Koch, his gifted son. His inspirations can not be discussed without mention of his colleague and creative muse, the punch cutter August Rosenberger. With the advent of more advanced computer technologies, in 1993 Zapf was able to create Zapfino as a digital font. Perhaps his most ambitious and exuberant type, it was initially sketched in 1944, but was impossible to convert to the screen until the 1990s. Embracing every new digital possibility, he enthusiastically created 5492 new characters for Microsoft when they converted his Palatino into other languages.

Fonts are a form of design. With the information explosion, is it possible that his might be the most reproduced designs in international history?

How to see their work

C://Windows/Fonts
Frequent exhibitions and talks around the world by the Zapfs themselves

Herman Zapf on the web

www.linotype.com - A good visual reference of his work

The Official Zapf Webpage - Minimal site but useful for up to date information about exhibitions