Robin Richmond and Erik Spiekermann at the Union Design office in , 1994 Robin on Erik

The Spiekermann, Erik Spieksalot, The Kaiser, Erik is better equipped in his second language MetaDesign London »Guv«. Mostly informal, hugely engaging, and than I am in my first. He has after all, mastered → never neutral, Erik always leaves an impression. three languages, cultures and humors: German, It’s hard to put a context on a person who is as English, and American. This fascination with fêted as Erik. He is a breath of fresh air in the communication and the use of words is clearly

– 99 1995 often-stuffy confines of a small pond industry manifest in his day jobs, which must be some- that can get lost in its own value. He’s therefore where in the back of his mind when shaping the not everyone’s cup of tea, deliberately gauche bowl of a non-aligning numeral or the x-height of and irreverent at the altar of high design. He is a new transitional humanist . undoubtedly an important figure — his compa- Erik stands as a German design icon, some- nies and have defined the way a global where in the mix between a Weltempfänger industry developed, reshaping the way German T1000 and Ro 80. But when I think of him, I think agencies approached design and putting of spontaneous laughter, word play, a collection a visual mark on the way his home city was of pompous oxymoronic phrases (think »military ­re-organized at the end of the Cold War. intelligence«), a love of dialect and local slang Erik is both big picture and in the details. A terms (»bap, barm, or cob«). I think of his contrarian (he reasons his birth date is respon- diatribes against mannerist and cliquey adher- sible), who is one minute this, the next that, but ence to design norms, his dislike of the ›Rotis‹ a force for good, and above all, for the art of typeface as a text, the cult of ›‹ and the communicating well. For Erik this starts with spacing of lower case . words. The true mark of a bi-linguist is the ability I also think of the warmth of Erik’s hospitality, Entrepreneur to find humor in a second language. Erik loves weekends in his Wilmersdorf gaff and buying word play and wit. A favorite text by Mark Twain wurst at the Winterfeldt Markt, »brown German berates the »awful German language«, which food«, and book hunting in Savignyplatz. despite its author’s many prejudices proves that I remember with a smirk his palpable relief at es- a cul­ture can only be appre­ci­ated through its caping from a faux-spiritual management brand lan­guage. Some of his love of British English was values workshop set deep on the German-Polish colored by his time working on the shop floor, border, using the excuse of having to drive teaching at the London College of Printing and the »Brits« back to , and the spontaneous contracting as a proof reader and comp at one outcry of British football terrace invective fuelled of London’s best typesetters, rubbing shoulders chanting and Derek and Clive monologs as we with an array of characters with links as varied drove back along Karl-Marx-Allee. Professor as connections to Jan Tschichold and the Lon- Erik Spiekermann, acknowledged intelligent don underworld, while also designing typefaces typographic raconteur and cunning linguist, you for Wolff Olins. This leads me to suspect that made the work fun.

Three years after the branch in San Francisco was founded in 1992, MetaDesign opened an office in London. Tim Fendley and Robin Richmond (previously Union Design) joined as Robin Richmond works partners. The team specialized in corporate as a design consultant identities and digital projects early on, includ- on bespoke projects, ing for The Economist Group, Skoda, Lexus, and mostly in London, some- times in America, and Ferrari. MetaDesign London also developed lately in Japan. He teach- the ›Legible City initiative‹ for the city of Bristol, es as a visiting lecturer with new signage for pedestrians, in addition at undergraduate to design for Glasgow when it was ›UK City level and has organized of Architecture and Design‹. In 1999 the London and curated the odd branch left the MetaDesign group and was design conference. Robin worked with Erik, acquired by Icon Medialab, who merged with officially between 1995 Michael Mol’s Lost Boys in 2002. and 1999, as a fellow founding director of

178 With: Tim Fendley and Robin Richmond MetaDesign London.