Erik Spiekermann: design process inspiration.

Typographer, graphic designer and businessman Erik Spiekermann has created timeless, influential and, yes, Meta-physical work over the past three decades. Next to founding MetaDesign and FontShop, the latter being the first ever digital distributor of fonts, and designing more instant classic typefaces than any other, he has been recognized as an outstanding expert internationally as a lecturer and professor. Listen to the design genius talk about new visual languages, design processes, the analogies of music and typography, and why we need better client culture in our latest Gestalten.tv video and you will easily realize why. Before heading to new visionary pastures, the bike enthusiast will make a short stop to receive the German Design Lifetime Achievement Award 2011 in February. Watch our complete line up of video interviews on www.gestalten.tv

I republishing this video from 2011 since it had such a large influence on me. I admire Erik’s typeface work very much but more importantly he put into words a way of designing things that I had been using for sometime, but couldn’t really put into words. In the almost 10 years since then I have used these methods so many times and revisit this video for inspiration.

A very well produced interview with Erik Spiekermann.

I was particularly taken by his take on a few points of the design process:

1. His Creative Process

I look at design inspirations for a long time - I look through books, on the internet and then I begin to sketch what I have seen. Then I put it all away for sometime. The next day (or next week) I sit down and draw it from memory - and then it is different. It is what I remember these design inspirations are be, but it is never the same as the original.

2.Teamwork

Most things I have done have been with other people. My responsibility is to show people that the design process is always teamwork, there are no geniuses, no single incredible person that can do it all of this.