Ferdinand Ulrich is a typographer and type history researcher. Currently a lecturer at Salzburg, previously at UdK Berlin, Burg Halle and elsewhere, he is also a typographic consultant, frequently writes for design magazines and type foundries, and designs publications in various formats for cultural institutions. Ferdinand studied visual communication in Berlin and Pittsburgh, and holds a PhD in typographic research from Reading. He is the recipient of the 2024 Cary Research Fellowship.
Ferdinand has been invited to speak at universities in Boston, Nancy, New York, Palo Alto and Prague, and at conferences in Berlin, Faenza, Los Angeles, Montréal and Turin.
Post-PhD reflections: Q&A with Gerry Leonidas (online) Department of Typography, University of Reading, UK 14 February 2024
Hand in Hand: Contemporary multi-script typography (with Toshiya Izumo) Jitsi Bitsi Spider #32. Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin, Germany 24 January 2024
Digital type systems (online) Type Design Studio, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany 29 November 2021
Cast Away: Nebiolo’s matrices in Darmstadt “Nebiolo Type Foundry 1869–1978: new critical assessments”. Castello del Valentino, Turin, Italy 17 September 2021
Zapf Centennial Symposium → video on Vimeo (with Robert Bringhurst, Ferdinand Ulrich, Julian Waters), The Grolier Club. New York City, USA 20 March 2019
Post-digital letterpress (with Erik Spiekermann and Flavia Zimbardi) Adobe MAX 2018. Convention Center, Los Angeles, USA 15 October 2018
Designing digital type before 1984 “TDi 2018” Summer Course. Department of Typography, University of Reading, UK 19 July 2018
Hidden Treasures: Bauhaus (with Céline Hurka, Luca Pellegrini, Ferdinand Ulrich, Hidetaka Yamasaki, Flavia Zimbardi) Adobe Typekit. Ramscale Studio, New York City, USA 12 June 2018
Type vs. Lettering (exhibition tour) “Die 100 besten Plakate der Burg”. Galerie im Volkspark, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, Germany 18 February 2015
Hunt Roman: A journey Design the Future Lecture Series. School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 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, Cambridge, USA 5 September 2014
Hunt Roman: A unique typeface Lecture series: Brainfood. Edenspiekermann, Berlin, Germany 23 August 2012
Genealogie und Anthologie der Schrift Hunt Roman Media Theory graduate ceremony. Berlin University of the Arts, Germany 10 July 2012
The Itten College: A modern art school during the 1920s and 1930s in Berlin AIGA Pecha Kucha Night. Pittsburgh, USA 13 November 2009
Published articles
Kleisch (reviewed with Toshiya Izumo) in Eye magazine, vol. 27, no. 108, London, 2025. → extract
Harmony and counterpoint in Eye magazine, vol. 27, no. 106, London, 2024, pp. 82–93. → extract
Standardised letterforms: some notes on the origins of Isonorm, in Neue Easo® type specimen, Bad Salzuflen: Neue Fonts, 2024 → online
Typography reading list, in History Today, vol. 74, #5, London, May 2024, p. 99.
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.
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]
Global type tour (review of ‘Typographics 21’ with G. Leonidas et al.), in Eye magazine, vol. 26, no. 102, London, 2021, pp. 48–61. → here and Eye blog.
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. → Eye blog
Die Schriften Alfarn, CarlMarx, Joschmi, Reross, Xants, in Bauhaus, no. 10, vol. 8, Dessau: Stiftung Bauhaus, 2018, pp. 134–137.
Zapf and Stauffacher. Collaborations between type designer and typographer, Bath/UK: The Old School Press, 2018. [ISBN 978-1-899933-35-8]
Post-digital endeavours at p98a.berlin, in Parenthesis, The Journal of The Fine Press Book Association, no. 34. Cambridge 2018, pp. 28–29.
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.
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]
From punch cutters to number crunchers, in: Eye magazine, vol. 24, no. 94, London 2017, pp. 36–41. → Eye blog
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]
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]
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]
8 separate entries 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. → excerpt
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. → 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.
Hunt Roman: friendship, collaboration, philosophy, 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]
Spring 2015–2018 · Visiting lecturer: Design Basics, UdK Berlin (invited by Uli Schwarz)
Spring 2016 · Lecturer: Typography Fundamentals, Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
2012—2015 · Associate lecturer: Editorial Design (with Anna Berkenbusch), Typography Fundamentals, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle
Fall 2011 · Visiting scholar: School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh/PA (invited by Terry Irwin)
