Hermann zapf biography sample
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A Short Introduction To the Life of Hermann Zapf
Hermann Zapf, his goal in his life was “to create beautiful letters,” one of his students was quoted saying (Weber, 2015). It is well known that Hermann Zapf is one of the most admired and important calligraphers in history, creating fonts that would serve as a guideline and inspiration for many fonts to come. However, Zapf had not always planned to be a calligrapher, he started out dreaming to be an electrical engineer.
The life of Hermann Zapf started in chaos. He was born into the German Revolution of 1918 – 1919 and the remnants of World War I. Unfortunately, misfortune did not end there, Zapf later found himself in widespread famine. Fortunately, the school that he was enrolled in and attended, provided meals. Much to his mother’s relief. It was there that Zapf found his interest the technical subjects of school. He found himself most
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Hermann Zapf
Prolific master calligrapher and type designer, born in Nuremberg in 1918. Most of his life, he lived in Darmstadt, where he died in 2015. He is best known for Palatino, Optima, Melior, Zapf Dingbats, Zapfino, and ITC Zapf Chancery. He created alphabets for metal types, photocomposition and digital systems.
He studied typography from 1938 until 1941 in Paul Koch's workshop in Frankfurt. From 1946 until 1956, he was type director at D. Stempel AG type foundry, Frankfurt. In 1951 he married Gudrun von Hesse. From 1956 until 1973, he was consultant for Mergenthaler Linotype Company, Brooklyn and Frankfurt. From 1977 until 1987, he was vice president of Design Processing, Inc., New York (which he founded with his friends förnamn Burns and Herb Lubalin), and professor of Typographic Computer Programs, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York. Students at RIT included Kris Holmes and Charles Bigelow, who tillsammans created the Lucida type family. Other promi
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Hermann Zapf
German type designer and calligrapher (1918–2015)
Hermann Zapf (German:[ˈhɛʁmanˈtsapf]; 8 November 1918 – 4 June 2015) was a German type designer and calligrapher who lived in Darmstadt, Germany. He was married to the calligrapher and typeface designer Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse. Typefaces he designed include Palatino, Optima, and Zapfino. He is considered one of the greatest type designers of all time.[1]
Early life
[edit]Zapf was born in Nuremberg[2] during turbulent times marked by the German Revolution of 1918–1919 in Munich and Berlin, the end of World War I, the exile of Kaiser Wilhelm, and the establishment of Bavaria as a free state by Kurt Eisner. In addition, the Spanish flu pandemic took hold in Europe in 1918 and 1919. Two of Zapf's siblings died of the disease.[3]Famine later struck Germany, and Zapf's mother was grateful to send him to school in 1925, where he received daily meals in a program organized by