1 of 25.

I made my way down to Cooper Union today, my first time actually inside of the beautifully designed building in lower Manhattan.  Cooper Union is one of the nation’s oldest institutions of higher learning, dedicated exclusively to preparing students for art-related professions.  Today, the Type Directors Club (TDC) was honoring Erik Spiekermann was a prestigious award of recognition at Cooper Union.

This meant lots of newness for me. 

Erik Spiekermann is a German typographer and designer with an epic sense of humor.  I first learned of him this quarter in my typography class and really appreciated his work, contributions to typography and his very cool personality.  When I found out that he would be here in NYC, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see him in person. 

I arrived at Cooper Union’s Rose Auditorium a bit early.  I figured there would be a ton of people there and wanted to at least get a seat.  This is what I saw when I arrived:

Needless to say, I managed to find a good seat. (smile)

One of Spiekermann’s colleagues gave a wonderful introduction about him and a brief history of some of Spiekermann’s accomplishments.  He is quite an interesting designer and designs with solutions in mind.  Eventually Spiekermann came on to accept his award.  Since the Type Directors Club was founded in 1946, only 25 people have been honored with this award celebrating typographic excellence and Spiekermann is one of those 25.  Pretty awesome.  It was really a treat to hear Spiekermann’s acceptance speech, he is a funny guy and very humble.  I will be posting a short clip where he mentions that he always feels a bit weird about being honored as so many people are a part of the work that he designs and he is the only name that gets credit.  He believes that everyone should be recognized… This is definitely a refreshing view that I completely agree with!

Congratulations Erik Spiekermann and thanks for all that you have done!