Hermann Zapf's Impact On The Typography World

There are many different type designers that have made a huge impact on the typography world. One of these designers is Hermann Zapf. He was born on November 8, 1918 in Darmstadt, Germany. When he was born there was a flu pandemic that killed millions of people this including two of his siblings. (Weber) He designed around 200 typefaces and married to Gudrun who was also a calligrapher and typeface designer. (“Hermann Zapf”)
In 1934, Hermann became an apprentice for the Karl Ulrich and Company printing firm. Once he was done with that apprenticeship he worked with Paul Koch. While working with Paul he learned how to us hand press type and produce lettering for musical notations. The work that he was doing was put to a halt by the second world was while he worked as a cartographer in the German

When he was there he bought two books that taught him about calligraphy. He designed his first printed typeface in 1938. He designed if for D. Stempel AG and Linotype GmbH of Frankfurt, he called it Gilgengart. (“Hermann Zapf”)
The Rochester Institute of Technology in New York mad him the Professor of Typographic Computer Programming in 1977. One of his favorite fonts that he has created was Optima. (“Identifont – Hermann Zapf”) He taught there from 1977 to 1987. While he was there he developed his ideas on digital typography. He used this experience to develop a typesetting program called “hz-program.” Adobe incorporated this in their InDesign program. (“Hermann Zapf”)
Hermann worked letter by letter while still having the concept as a whole in mind while designing each letter. Letters have a multifaceted aesthetic when it comes to considering the shape of the letters. He created beauty as well as clarity through his fonts. Many thought of him as a master calligrapher who reproduced typefaces by hand. Hermann thought that type should not only acknowledge tradition but also reflect modernity.