Ferdinand Ulrich is a typographer, researcher and writer. He designs various publication formats for museums, academic institutions and publishers, he also frequently writes and translates for magazines and type foundries. He has taught graphic design and typography at Burg Halle and at UdK Berlin, more recently in the foundation year. At the University of Reading he investigates the discourse in early digital type design technologies.
Ferdinand has been invited to speak at universities in Cambridge/MA, Hamburg, New York, Pittsburgh and Prague, and at conferences in Berlin, Los Angeles, Montréal, Nancy and Turin.
Digital type systems (virtual lecture) Seminar: Type Design (Pierre Pané-Farré), Hamburg University of Applied Sciences 29 November 2021
Cast Away: Nebiolo’s matrices in Darmstadt Symposium: “Nebiolo Type Foundry 1869–1978: new critical assessments”, Castello del Valentino. Turin, Italy 17 September 2021
Pre PostScript (virtual lecture) Seminar: “Interface of Things” (Stella Friedenberger/Benedikt Rottstegge), Hamburg University of Applied Sciences 11 June 2021
2020
Type designer’s tools (virtual lecture) → video on academy.martinaflor.com Summer program: “Letter & Co.” Oktober 2020
Typografische Qualität definieren (virtual lecture) Seminar: “Design Basics”, Berlin University of the Arts 13 July 2020
Matrices Reloaded Show & Tell, Zwölf. Berlin, Germany 9 January 2020
2019
Last man casting Type Tuesday: “Type now. Eye 98 live”, St. Bride Foundation. London, UK 4 June 2019
TypoFoto (with Norman Posselt) UMPRUM, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. Prague, Czech Republic 23 May 2019
Zapf Centennial Symposium → video on Vimeo (panel: Robert Bringhurst, Ferdinand Ulrich, Julian Waters, moderation: David Pankow), The Grolier Club. New York City/NY, USA 20 March 2019
2018
Post-digital letterpress (with Erik Spiekermann and Flavia Zimbardi) → video available Adobe MAX 2018, Convention Center. Los Angeles/CA, USA 15 October 2018
Designing digital type before 1984 Summer course: “TDi 2018” (Gerry Leonidas), University of Reading, Department of Typography and Graphic Communication. Reading, UK 19 July 2018
Adobe Typekit Panel (panel alongside Céline Hurka, Luca Pellegrini, Ferdinand Ulrich, Hidetaka Yamasaki, Flavia Zimbardi, moderation: Frank Grießhammer) Ramscale Studio, New York City/NY, USA 12 June 2018
Post-digital letterpress University of Reading, Department of Typography and Graphic Communication. Reading, UK 21 February 2018
Hierarchien und Rasterstrukturen in der Gestaltung von Formularen und Fahrplänen Seminar: “Interface design: gute Formulare gestalten” (Frank Rausch), University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Germany 19 January 2018
Struktur, Hierarchie, Lesbarkeit in Alltagsdrucksachen Seminar: “Kompaktwoche Typografie” (Anna Berkenbusch), Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle/Saale, Germany 29 May 2017
Alltagsdrucksachen und deren Archivierung Seminar: “Kompaktwoche Typografie” (Anna Berkenbusch), Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle/Saale, Germany 22 June 2016
Bucheinbände, Schriftentwürfe, Schriftblätter und Malerei Schriftenfest 2016, Offizin Haag-Drugulin. Dresden, Germany 18 June 2016
Schrift im Archiv Seminar: “Theoretisch und Angewandt” (Franziska Morlok/Martin Conrads), Berlin University of the Arts. Berlin, Germany 25 November 2015
Dialogische Lesung: Die Burg Giebichenstein alphabetisch. Eine Hochschulenzyklopädie (alongside Matthias Noell, Juliane Aleithe, Julius Luge) 14. Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften. Halle, Germany 3 June 2015
Die 100 besten Plakate der Burg: Handschrift vs. Satzschrift Galerie im Volkspark, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle/Saale, Germany 18 February 2015
2014
Hunt Roman: A journey Design the Future Lecture Series, School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University. Pittsburgh/PA, USA 10 September 2014
Hands-on computing in type design: Some examples of early font production on the verge of analogue and digital Tangible Media Group, MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge/MA, USA 5 September 2014
Hunt Roman: A unique typeface BrainFood, Edenspiekermann. Berlin, Germany 23 August 2012
Genealogie und Anthologie der Schrift Hunt Roman Media Theory graduate ceremony, Berlin University of the Arts. Berlin, Germany 10 July 2012
The Itten College: A modern art school during the 1920s and 1930s in Berlin AIGA Pecha Kucha Night. Pittsburgh/PA, USA 13 November 2009
Publications
Forthcoming → Cast away: Nebiolo matrices in Darmstadt, in The Nebiolo Type Foundry: 1878–1978, Turin, 2022.
Tools and shapes in The Arizona Type Specimen, Berlin: Dinamo Editions, 2022. [ISBN 978-3-910551-00-8]
Ikarus between the worlds, in Footnotes, issue D, Geneva: La Police, 2022, pp. 156–173 [ISSN 2504-0413]
Ephemera studies: collection-based research, in A. Berkenbusch (ed.): Every day. Design for people, Halle/Saale: Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, 2022, pp. 264–269. [ISBN 987-3-86019-160-6]
2021
Global type tour (review of ‘Typographics 21’ with G. Leonidas et al.), in Eye magazine, vol. 27, no. 102, London, 2021, pp. 48–61. [ISSN 0960-779X] → Eye blog here and here.
Fanfare. The expressive blackletter grotesk from Berlin/La linéale gothique expressive de Berlin in T. Huot-Marchand, C. Kirchstetter, J. Knebusch (eds.): Gotico-Antiqua, Proto-Roman, Hybrid. 15th-century types between gothic and roman, Nancy: ANRT and Frankfurt/Main: Poem, 2021, pp. 181–208. [ISBN 978-2-37896-226-5] → abstract
Handsatz, Schriftentwurf (separate entries), in P. Eisele/I. Naegele/M. Lailach (eds.): Moholy-Nagy und die Neue Typografie, Dortmund: Verlag Kettler, 2019, pp. 44, 62–63. [ISBN 978-3-86206-753-4] → PDF
Last man casting, in Eye magazine, vol. 25, no. 98, London 2019, pp. 76–72. [ISSN 0960-779X] → Eye blog
Zapf and Stauffacher. Collaborations between type designer and typographer, Bath/UK: The Old School Press, 2018. [ISBN 978-1-899933-35-8]
Jack’s friends, in Book Club of California Quarterly, vol. 83, no. 2, San Francisco, 2018, p. 43.
Post-digital endeavours at p98a.berlin, in Parenthesis, The Journal of The Fine Press Book Association, no. 34. Cambridge 2018, pp. 28–29. [ISSN 1462-9895]
A brief overview of developments in digital type design, in Yearbook of type, vol. 3, Karlsruhe: Slanted, 2018, pp. 414–417. [ISBN 978-3-9818296-2-4] → republished on Medium
Hesse Antiqua zum 100. Geburtstag, in Die TeXnische Komödie, vol. 30, no. 1, Heidelberg 2018, pp. 57–65. [ISSN 1434-5897]
Letter stories U–S–A, in: Paper, vol. 2, no. 6, Berlin: p98a, 2017, pp. 25, 37, 51. [ISSN 2365-9009]
Futura and its environment (with E. Spiekermann), in: P. Eisele, A. Ludwig, I. Naegele (eds.): Futura. The typeface, London: Laurence King, 2017, pp. 478–490. [ISBN 978-1-78627-093-1]
Futura und ihr Umfeld (with E. Spiekermann), in: P. Eisele, A. Ludwig/I. Naegele (eds.): Futura. Die Schrift, Mainz: Hermann Schmidt, 2016, pp. 478–490. [ISBN 978-3-87439-893-0] → PDF
Book review: Der Typograph Hermann Zapf. Eine Werkbiografie, in: Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte, vol. 18, Stuttgart 2016, p. 201. [ISBN 978-3-515-11604-6]
“Variance meets consistency” (interview with Hannes von Döhren, Andreas Frohloff, Ivo Gabrowitsch, Christoph Koeberlin, Jens Kutílek, Erik Spiekermann and Bernd Volmer), fontshop.com, 16 March 2016.
Cooper Hewitt: The Typeface (review), in: L. Kudrnovská (ed.): 365 typo. 365 stories on type, typography and graphic design, Paris 2015, p. 201 [ISBN 979-10-95254-00-3]
Typeface review: FF Real (interview with Erik Spiekermann and Ralph du Carrois), fontshop.com, 30 July 2015.
Plastiktüte: God bless America, in: A. Berkenbusch, S. Fricke, L. Petersen, L. Sievertsen (eds.): Mitteilungen aus dem Zettelwerk, vol. 1, Halle (Saale) 2015, pp. 46–49. [ISBN 978-3-86019-119-4]
Antiqua und Fraktur (p. 27), Cola-Dose (p. 75), Flugverbindung (p. 123), Grotesk (p. 170), Schulpresse (p. 387), Sigillum Burgensis (p. 394), Thomas-Schrift (p. 420), Visitenkarten des Deutschen Geistes (p. 460), in: M. Noell (ed.): Die Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, alphabetisch geordnet. Eine Hochschulenzyklopädie, Halle/Saale 2015. [ISBN 978-3-935053-85-3] → PDF
Type vs. Lettering. Schrift auf den 100 besten Plakaten, in: A. Berkenbusch (ed.): 100 beste Plakate der Burg Giebichenstein, Halle/Saale 2015, pp. 13–15. [ISBN 978-3-86019-115-6]
“Halle-Neustadt hat eine gewisse Art von Schönheit” (with A. Berkenbusch), in: J. Reuter (ed.): Wie wollen wir leben? 50 Jahre Halle-Neustadt. Positionen und Reflexionen aus Kunst und Design, Halle/Saale 2014, pp. 58–69. [ISBN 978-3-86019-107-1]
The Prototype. What we can learn from one of Hermann Zapf’s last metal typefaces, in: The Journal of the Printing Historical Society, new series, no. 20, London 2014, pp. 5–24. [ISSN 0079-5321] → excerpt
2013
Der “Kulturbotschafter”. Hermann Zapfs Anfänge in den Vereinigten Staaten und das Projekt Hunt Roman, in: Journal für Druckgeschichte, vol. 19, no. 3, Ostfildern 2013, pp. 25–27. [ISSN 0012-1096] → PDF
The Hunt Roman Quadriga. How four printing workshops rescued an almost forgotten typeface, in: Parenthesis, The Journal of The Fine Press Book Association, no. 25. Chicago 2013, pp. 14–18. [ISSN 1462-9895]
Friendship, collaboration, philosophy (extracts from Hunt Roman Genealogy), in: A. Schmidt, P. M. Sommer (eds.): Typoversity. Projekte und Diskurse zur typografischen Ausbildung an Hochschulen, vol. 2, Hamburg 2013, pp. 56–67. [ISBN 978-3-939028-35-2]
Wie man durch die Zeit reist. Eine Studie über Realität und Fiktion im Zeitreisekontext (with Tanja Kapahnke), in: D. Skopec (ed.): Klasse Visuelle Systeme. Zeit/Bild/Protokolle, Berlin 2011, pp. 25–28.
Interviews and features
Verbindungsstücke (interview), Communication Arts, Typography Annual 13, vol. 64, no. 6, 2023, pp. 56–57 (read it online here).
Spring 2021 · Guest critic, Interface of Things seminar, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (invited by Stella Friedenberger and Benedikt Rottstegge)
2019/20 · Visiting lecturer (interim for Prof. Ulrich Schwarz) with Henrike Uthe, Design Basics, Berlin University of the Arts, UdK
Spring 2019 · Visiting lecturer, Modular type and typographic modules, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle (invited by Andrea Tinnes)
2012—2015 · Assistant professor, Typography Basics and Editorial Design class (with Anna Berkenbusch), Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle
2011 · Visiting scholar, School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh/PA (invited by Terry Irwin)
2011—2012 · Teaching assistant (Tutor), Visual Systems class (David Skopec), Berlin University of the Arts, UdK
2010—2011 · Research assistant (Tutor) at Information Design class (Severin Wucher), Berlin University of the Arts, UdK
