Anna Berkenbusch

Anna Berkenbusch (* 1955 in Erwitte ) is a German designer and university professor.

Life

From 1974 to 1979 Anna Berkenbusch studied visual communication in Düsseldorf and then worked as a designer at MetaDesign in Berlin and London. Together with Erik Spiekermann and Florian Fischer she worked a. a. on the new image of the Bank für Gemeinwirtschaft, especially on the forms as well as on the Berthold Exclusive font brochures.

In 1982 Anna Berkenbusch and Klaus Fehsenfeld became managing partners of “Denk Neu!”, A society for communication. The agency's main focus was on the cultural and social area, clients included the Alternative List Berlin, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and the Diakonisches Werk, the Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband, the German Central Institute for Social Issues and numerous film distributors such as Prokino, Kinowelt , Delphi and the authors' film publishing company . The most famous work from this period is the black and white poster for François Truffaut's film Auf Liebe und Tod .

At the beginning of the eighties Anna Berkenbusch called together with Erik Spiekermann , Hans Peter Willberg , Helmut Schmit-Rhen, Gerd Fleischmann u. a. the Typography Forum to promote good typography in everyday life. In 1994 she became a board member of the Association of Graphic Designers and later a founding member of the association The 100 best posters of the year from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In 1987 Anna Berkenbusch founded her own studio Anna B. Design in Berlin and is still working in her studio with various designers and designers. a. with Katrin Schek, Tina Wende and Christian Gralingen.

Anna Berkenbusch has been a member of the Type Directors Club of New York since 1989 .

Work

Anna B. Design is responsible for the visual equipment of numerous documentaries and feature films. The studio's work includes cinema posters for films by Wim Wenders , Werner Herzog , Romuald Kamarkar, Hark Bohm, Michael Haneke, Tom Tykwer and Detlev Buck .

In the nineties, Anna B. Design designed posters for the Theater des Westens as well as for numerous concert events in Berlin such as the “Sound Art Festival” or “Tanz im August”.

In 1987, 1993 and 1994 the books “Sozialstadt Berlin” were created for the German Central Institute for Social Issues, “Design in Portrait” for the International Design Center Berlin and the Location Guide Hamburg for the Film Fonds Hamburg.

With Maren Niemeyer she published the book “Think War” about children in the Kosovo conflict in 2003 and, together with the artists Heike Piech, Maria Matthieu and Renate Bühn, developed the book “What do you see Mrs. Lot?” About sexual abuse of women and children .

Together with the designer and illustrator Christian Gralingen she created various publications, e . B. about the class of the painter Ute Pleuger, about the graphic work of the art professor Andrea Zaumseil (“Inaccessible Places”) as well as books about the departments of design (together with Rubén Cuellas Is) and art of the Burg Giebichenstein art college.

Anna Berkenbusch works with the educationalist and peace policy advisor Cornelia Brinkmann, for whose company “Steps for Peace” in Berlin she also designed the corporate identity.

In 2015 she curated and opened the exhibition The “100 Best Posters in the Castle” at Burg Giebichenstein Art College in Halle on the occasion of the university's 100th birthday.

Anna Berkenbusch has been commissioned several times by the Federal Ministry of Finance to design postage stamps, most recently for the “Drei Gleichen” and “Konstanz Council” stamps.

Lectures and texts

Anna Berkenbusch is a specialist jury member in international juries, gives lectures and publishes texts on the subject of communication. In 1994 she was a mentor in the competition for the Expo 2000 and in 1996 a member of the jury of the Federal Government's Press and Information Office in the competition for the symbol of the Federal Republic of Germany. She has been a member of the jury several times in the competition The 100 best posters of the year and for the design award for communication design from the Design Center Essen. She has also been a juror in the BF Prize competition for design-critical texts for several years.

Anna Berkenbusch was a speaker at various conferences a. a. at the Visions of German Design Aspen, USA, at the TGM in Munich, at the Profile Intermedia Bremen, at the Typo Berlin and at the international TEDx conference in Leipzig.

Teaching

Since 1989 Anna Berkenbusch has taught as visiting professor and deputy professor at the Berlin University of the Arts , the Bremen University of the Arts and as a full professor at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Dessau.

In 1995 she was appointed professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen and has been teaching since 2003 as a professor for communication design at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art in Halle with a focus on editorial design.

Her research project at the University of Essen on the subject of “Work Life Balance” addressed the issue of mobile working methods, design theory and family.

Their students received numerous awards and grants at home and abroad, in addition to scholarships from the German National Academic Foundation and the like. a. Art Directors Club New York, "100 Best Posters" and "Output". The book “Closed Society” about people living in illegality, which also won the Sappi - Ideas that Matter competition, received the Best Books award from the Book Art Foundation and the theater project “Sacrificial Pop” received the Typographic Excellence Award from TDC New York .

Anna Berkenbusch is committed to the internationalization of universities, she organizes workshops and projects with international student groups and teachers.

The exchange with the partner university Instituto Supérior de Diseño in Havana as well as the cooperation with the cultural institute Casa de las Américas and the Cuban poster designers Pepe Menéndez and Nelson Ponce Sanchez led to exhibitions in Halle and Havana and to a continuous cooperation between German and Cuban students.

Awards

• 1981: Award from the Association of German Graphic Designers
• 1988: Graphis Posters, TDC New York, Award for Typographic Excellence
• 1989: Award from Graphis Posters, Switzerland, TDC New York, Award for Typographic Excellence, Award from the Association of German Graphic Designers
• 1990: Winner of the Typography Germany 90 competition, Graphis Posters, Switzerland
• 1992: Award for high design quality at the Design Center North Rhine-Westphalia in the German Prize for Communication Design competition, 100 best posters
• 1993: Award TIA in the Typographic Excellence competition, London, exhibition of the 7th Triennial The best posters 1990–1993 from Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the German Poster Museum Essen, The Most Beautiful German Books, Stiftung Buchkunst, Award from Graphis Posters, Switzerland, 100 best posters
• 1994: Frankfurt am Main in the competition The Most Beautiful German Books, Stiftung Buchkunst
• 1996: Exhibition of 100 posters from 30 years of competition, Berlin
• 1997: Certificate of Design Excellence / European Regional Design Annual
• 1998: International Triennial of Graphics & Posters Kharkiv Ukraine
• 2000: TDC New York, Award for Typographic Excellence
• 2001: Red Dot Award, TDC New York, Award for Typographic Excellence
• 2002: Poster Biennale Brno, Sappi competition “Ideas that matter”, TDC New York, Award for Typographic Excellence
• 2004: TDC New York, Award for Typographic Excellence
• 2005: 100 Best Posters 2005, Red Dot Award, TDC New York, Award for Typographic Excellence
• 2008: The most beautiful German books, Stiftung Buchkunst, Sappi competition “Ideas that matter”, nomination for the design prize of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 2014: TDC New York, Award for Typographic Excellence

Publications

• as editor, designer and author: The 100 best posters of the BURG. , 2015, ISBN 978-3-86019-115-6 .
• as editor and designer: I often think of the war: with different eyes. Maren Niemeyer, Anna Berkenbusch, Maikäferflieg eV, 2003, ISBN 3-00-011083-6 .
• as editor and designer: Thinking and shaping. Schmidt, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-87439-492-1 .
• as editors: “Closed Society”, Anna Berkenbusch, Friederike Kühne, Bastian Renner and Sebastian Haustein, 2008, ISBN 978-386019-064-7
• as designer: Andrea Zaumseil . Inaccessible places. Modo Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86833-106-6 .
• as a designer: design, full range. Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86019-071-5 .
• as a designer: art. Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, 2011, ISBN 978-3-86019-065-4 .
• as designer: 10 years class Ute Pleuger. Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86019-075-3 .
• as a designer: “What do you see Mrs. Lot?” Heike Piech, Maria Matthieu and Renate Bühn, 2001, ISBN 3-00-007976-9 .

literature

• Type before Gutenberg. Page, 9/1991.
• The Holy Scriptures. Interview on the topic of new fonts, TAZ , 11/1993.
• Are the designers still creating reality? BDG Nachrichten 101, 3/94 and Form, 1994.
• The power of writing, the writing of power. Page 3, 1997.
• Design in Berlin. Vice Versa Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-932809-52-1 .
• Gerda Breuer , Julia Meer: Women in Graphic Design. Jovis, 2012, ISBN 978-3-86859-153-8 (interview).
• Design and politics. by Hans Höger, Querfeldein 1, 2005, ISBN 3-9810428-0-8 .
• Slanted 21, Typography and Design Cuba Next Generation. No. 21, 2013.

Web links

• annabdesign.de
• burg-halle.de