Typeradio Podcast

Michiel Schuurman graduated from Amsterdam’s Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2002. As a graphic artist he specializes in typography, pattern and poster design, embracing a fearless and bold approach. Based on both nature, algorithms and psychedelia, his intricate pattern designs for textiles manufacturer Vlisco (a.o.) are renowned. Michiel often screen prints his own works himself. He is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI). Recorded on September 24th of 2019 in AGI Open Conference in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Erik Brandt is a graphic designer and educator who has been active since 1994. He is currently chair of the design department and professor of graphic design at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design). He is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and curates Ficciones Typografika, a project dedicated to the relationship between type and urban space. A practitioner of the ‘life long learning’ practice, he talked to us in detail about how he started Typografika, and raised a lot of questions about which could be the role of graphic designers today. Recorded at the AGI Open conference in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Roel Wouters runs, together with Luna Maurer, the multi-media interactive design studio Moniker, based in Amsterdam. Their work process explores the relationship with technology as a way to show human behavior. Roel talks to us about how technology shapes and informs their work, teaching and his brother Job, who was previously interviewed on Typeradio. Recorded in Amsterdam, 21st of June 2019.

Janno Hahn, a Dutch (typo)graphic designer based in Amsterdam, defines himself as a ‘semi-autodidact’ and is mostly known for his distinctive typographic work for buildings, bridges and public spaces. He talks to us about the materials, tools and philosophy of his work, very much based in craftmanship. Janno explains the idea of what is honest design to him, and also talks about his mentors Gerritjan Deunk, Gerard Unger, René Knip and other designers he collaborated with. Recorded on June 21st, 2019 in Amsterdam.

Richard Niessen is a Dutch designer who lives in Amsterdam, sharing a studio space with his partner Esther de Vries since 2007. His work explores the relationship between graphic design, poetry, and craftsmanship. Richard talked to us about his project ‘The Palace of Typographic Masonry’, an imaginary game-like structure that is used to order the elements, principles, and sources of this art and the ‘1:1:1’ publications, that compile interviews with designers and artists. Richard also mentions some of his references like Bas Oudt, his former teacher at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. The interview is full of inspiring notes about his design process. Recorded on June 7th of 2019 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Hansje van Halem is a Dutch designer based in Amsterdam. Her work revolves around the experimentation with shapes, colors, textures and type, both digitally and manually. In this interview she reflects on the work process of projects like the identity for the Lowlands festival or the ‘Theory of Type Design’ book by her former teacher Gerard Unger. Also her “In Patterns’ exhibit at Bijzondere Collecties in Amsterdam is discussed. Recorded on May 31st of 2019 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Rick Vermeulen is a well reputed graphic designer and co-founder of the Rotterdam design collective Hard Werken. Hard Werken started in the late 1970’s as a magazine of general culture that would become an icon of its time. Rick talks to us about its foundation, and how later Hard Werken Design emerged as the first collective studio in Rotterdam (running from 1979 till 1994), consisting of core members, besides Rick, Henk Elenga, Kees de Gruiter, Gerard Hadders, Tom van den Haspel and Willem Kars.  Recorded at All Eyes On Type, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Bernd Volmer is a German graphic and type designer who got his degree at ArtEZ in Arnhem and studied Type and Media at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague in The Netherlands. Apart from his (type)design practice, he worked as font engineer at FontShop / Monotype in Berlin. Bernd talks to us about his origins, studies and his future dream projects, including his own beer brewery! Recorded at All Eyes On Type, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Aleksandra Samulenkova is a freelance type designer who originally comes from Latvia and lives in Haarlem, The Netherlands. She worked in Berlin for Lucas De Groot and is currently part of the developing team of the Bold Monday type foundry, for which she developed the Cyrillic and Greek versions of the IBM Plex Type System. She talked to us about the design process of Pilot, the typeface she initiated while studying at Type&Media, and what it’s like to have lived in different cities. Recorded at All Eyes On Type, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Guido & Vincent de Boer are two brothers that share a passion for letterforms. Initially educated as graphic designers they both developed a career as typographic artists. They are part of the collective High on Type that brings together calligraphy & typography. They talk about their rituals and their childhood, how they grew up together as two (of three) brothers. And how, at age nine, they collaborated doing grafftti and copying letterforms from flyers, Also about how each developed his own style. Finally, they share with us the ideas and philosophy behind the All Eyes on Type symposium. Recorded at All Eyes On Type, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Job Wouters aka Letman is a skilled letterer and mural painter, but not only that. He studied graphic design at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and typography at the KABK in The Hague, where he now also teaches. He talked to us about his smoking habit, his first typographic memory and how he started as a graphic designer. Today his work balances between art, illustration, typography and design. As an artist he follows his own paths based on his intuition. He talks about the exhibition he was part of at Marres in Maastricht, and his dream project. Recorded at All Eyes On Type, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

This American graphic designer, teacher, researcher, writer and explorer of digital animation using Python and Drawbot, entered into graphic design through his fascination with type and the books he was reading for his PhD in political science. He talked to us about his relationship with typography, the development of technology in type, and questions what it is to be a designer today. Recorded at Robothon 2018, The Hague, The Netherlands.

After graduating in multi-media design at the university of art and design Halle, Germany, and doing a type design master in Zurich and one at Type&Media, The Hague, Nina worked as designer, typographer and coder. She finally landed a job as senior typeface designer at Frere-Jones Type. Since 2016 she also teaches type design at Yale School of Art. She talked to us about her key moments in life, her moving to New York and a bit about her personal vision on the lack of awareness of differences between good and bad type design.

Jeff Devey is a sign painter, letterer, pinstriper and hot rod builder fromTwin Falls, Idaho, USA. Jeff basically lives the coolest dream ever, as he started out mainly specialising in race car lettering and striping. In this interview he talks about how he started at car shows and developed a professional career as a signpainter. Recorded at the Letterheads Amsterdam Signpainters conference, 2016

Mike Meyer has been sign painting his entire life. and an active member of the Letterheads movement. Since 2013 he has been workshops all around, and he appears in the film Sign Painters. In this interview, Mike Meyers talked to us, in a very reflective way, full of personal anecdotes, about his practice. And his trespass of knowledge through teaching, for which he advices to apply the three D’s: Desire, Dedication and Discipline… and a fourth letter, the T of Time. Also about the renaissance of the sign painting craft. Recorded at the Letterheads Amsterdam Signpainters conference, 2016